Gambling Law In Malaysia
I wouldn’t call Malaysia the ‘mecca‘ of gambling in Asia… but it’s close!
From semi-legal gambling rings grossing $1bn+ to gigantic casino-resorts like Genting Highlands, that are built into mountain peeks and attract visitors from all over SE Asia – Malaysia has embraced the age old activity of gambling more then it’s neighboring countries, with religious laws presenting the only restrictions (Muslim Malaysian residents are banned from gambling, enforced by sharia law شريعة as it is against their religion).
The spirit of the law is to protect both players and businesses from being defrauded by dishonest business operators. Although there are no federal laws that directly regulate online gambling, the Malaysian government does have a system in place to address complaints of corruption within the gaming industry. General Gambling Laws In Malaysia. Malaysia is a predominantly Muslim country, so nearly all forms of gambling, both online and offline, are considered illegal. Three main frameworks regulate the rules of the game in Malaysia. The most prominent of these is the Betting Act of 1953.
Gambling and wagering is a regulated activity in Malaysia, but of course OnlineGambling.co is here to teach you the path to hassle-free online gambling in Malaysia or, for that matter, anywhere in the Asia Pacific region.
Is Online Gambling Illegal In Malaysia?
Online gambling is not illegal in Malaysia, but it is regulated by government and semi-religious authorities. Specifically, documents like the Civil Law Act 1956 and the Malaysian Contracts Act shed light on these regulations by stating that all gaming and wagering contracts are void.
Gambling Laws in Malaysia. Malaysia has an interesting take on the legality of gambling. Most forms of gambling are prohibited across the country with the exception of parimutuel horse betting, the national lottery and the Genting Highlands resort. Additionally, there are two different sets of laws; one set applies to ethnic Malays and another. A pretty normal example of a welcome deposit bonus is 100% up to €100. This means that everything you deposit up to €100 is doubled, with Malaysia Law Gambling a maximum big bonus amount of €100. So if you make the Malaysia Law Gambling max deposit Malaysia Law Gambling of €100, you will have a start playing balance of €200.
The Civil law act of Malaysia states:
Agreement by way of gaming or wagering to be null and void
26. (1) All contracts or agreements, whether by parol or in writing, by way of gaming or wagering shall be null and void.
(2) No action shall be brought or maintained in any Court for recovering any sum of money or valuable thing alleged to be won upon any wager or which has been deposited in the hands of any person to abide the event on which any wager has been made.
The Contracts Act states:
Agreements by way of wager void
31. (1) Agreements by way of wager are void; and no suit shall be brought for recovering anything alleged to be won on any wager, or entrusted to any person to abide the result of any game or other uncertain event on which any wager is made.
In laymen’s terms, this means that contracts of wagering, gambling or betting are not enforceable by law. So a bet between two people on an ASEAN basketball match that is not honored by the loosing party, can not be taken to court – the cheated winner of the bet is, essentially, on his own!
The Common Gaming Houses Act 1953 states (in relation to people using gambling houses, which is a blanket term for participation in most forms of gambling):
Gaming in common gaming house
6. (1) Any person who games in a common gaming house shall be guilty of an offence and shall, on conviction, be liable to a fine not exceeding **five thousand ringgit or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to both.
The long and short of it is that physical, or live, gambling in Malaysia is regulated to the point of being illegal, but Malaysian legal acts have not been amended to address online gambling nor has any specific I-gaming legislation been put in place. Malaysian players gamble online without hassle. There have been no cases of individuals being prosecuted or clamped down on due to gambling online.
The fact that there is only one single, fully authorized physical casino in Malaysia means that there are groups who set up unregulated & illegal gambling dens disguised as internet cafes, these are regularly shut down by Malaysian police. This is due to the Common Gaming Houses Act 1953, which states that:
(1) Any person who:
(a) being the owner or occupier or having the use temporarily or otherwise thereof keeps or uses a place as a common gaming house; or
(b) permits a place of which he is owner or occupier or of which he has the use temporarily or otherwise to be kept or used by another person as a common gaming house;
(c) has the care or management of or in any manner assists in the management of a place kept or used as a common gaming;
shall be guilty of an offence and shall, on conviction, be liable to a fine of not less than five thousand ringgit and not more than fifty thousand ringgit and shall also be punished with imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years and in addition shall be liable to a fine of not less than five thousand ringgit and not more than fifty thousand ringgit for every gaming machine seized.
This law also applies to those found in, or in some way using the services of, a gaming house. I would personally advise against accessing online gambling websites from public locations like internet cafes in Malaysia, to avoid running into problems.
Online Casino’s Who Operate Out Of Malaysia
There are no online casino, poker, sports betting or other wagering companies who operate out of Malaysia, but there are several operators who offer services to Malaysian based individuals looking to gamble online, we provide details online casinos for Malaysians below.
Gambling Law In Malaysia Philippines
Best Online Casinos For Malaysian Gamblers
- Why We Like ‘Em
- Malaysian banking deposit options. Chinese traditional (簡體字) & simplified (简体字) language, Ringgit (MYR) currency options
Online Live Roulette & Live Casinos
There are two major online casino operators that we can recommend for live dealer casino games playable by those located in Malaysia: Bodog88
⇒ www.Bodog88.com, our #1 choice for live dealer casino game offerings to Malaysian players, offer many different Malaysian friendly banking deposit and withdrawal options. Specifically, they offer local bank transfers for depositing and withdrawing money to and from your Bodog88 account. For THB bank customers, they can deposit via FastDebit and the processing time is instant whereas a local bank transfer is available for withdrawal within 24 hours.
TWD bank customers may use Moneybookers/Skrill for both deposit and withdrawals to Bodog88. Deposit is instant and withdrawals can take up to 24 hours. Click2Pay is a solid backup option for deposits & withdrawals from Malaysian bank account.
Bodog88 also offer Chinese traditional (簡體字) & simplified (简体字) language options, alongside Ringgit (MYR) currency options.
Maybank Deposits & Withdrawals To Online Casinos
It seems that Maybank, one of the most popular banking choices in Malaysia, is commonly known to block deposits and transfers to well-known sports betting and casino websites. If you are a Maybank customer and you want to play poker, casino games or bet on sports online, we have two recommendations:
– Hop on Live Chat with the customer support team at a reputable gambling operator, confirm with them that you can deposit or withdraw money to and from your Maybank account – you do not want to waste time having your payments delayed and rejected.
– Avoid the problem all together and deposit money from your Maybank account directly to an e-wallet or virtual credit card service like Entropay. Pretty much every online casino, sports betting, bingo or poker website accepets payments & deposits to these cards so you can play as much as you like.
Malaysia 4-Digits (4D) Lottery Betting
Originating from Kedah in 1951, four digits is an extremely popular Malaysian lottery game. It’s a fixed-odds game that you play by choosing any number between 0000 and 9999. 23 winning numbers are drawn every time. If one of the numbers matches the one that the player has bought, a prize is won. A draw is conducted to select these winning numbers.
There are numerous 4D jackpots, run by several different operators. In Malaysia, Magnum 4D, who operate out of Penang, are the most popular operation with their classic 4D option with big and small forecasts. They were also the first legalized operator licensed by the Malaysian Government. Other operators include:
Sports Toto: They offer basic 4D gameplay that works the same way as Magnum and Da Ma Cai (below), as well as 5D and 6D games. Unlike 4D, 5D and 6D do have no “Big” and “Small” Forecasts.
Da Ma Cai:
Malaysian 4D results
For 4D results you can visit the official Magnum, Sports Toto and Da Ma Cai websites. Variants such as 5D & 6D are also covered on the official sites.
Playing Poker Online Guide For Malaysians
As with online casinos and sports betting services in Malaysia, poker lies in a legal grey area. There is only one fully licensed physical poker room in Malaysia which is the Casino De Genting, located in the Genting Highlands. But for those looking to play Poker online – wether they’re a grinder, a casual player, an expat living in Malaysia who just wants to play a few hands with mates back home or anything similar – they are going to have to get creative to successfully play online poker from within Malaysia.
The Malaysian authorities have not attempted to crack down on online poker players, instead they have left this responsibility up to the banks, who are not allowed to process any transactions related to poker websites. Here are the workarounds that work at the moment, most involve the use of ewallet services:
NETELLER – you can deposit funds to most popular poker sites like PartyPoker using Neteller, however many banks in malaysia block deposits to the ewallet service. A way around this is to sign up for their Nett Mastercard, enabling you to cash out directly from your local ATM. To deposit money you can buy Neteller funds from other players (often using Paypal and other Malaysian friendly services) on player forums like PokerKaki.
EntroPay – A solid ewallet Visa and Mastercard service that allows you to deposit and withdraw money to and from your Malaysian bank account, we recommend EntroPay due to their ease-of-use for Malaysians alone.
Moneybookers (Skrill) no longer works as a viable method to deposit and withdraw funds from online poker websites, as they have been blocked by nearly all Malaysian banks due to their known ties with gambling websites.
Withdrawing & Depositing Money on Poker websites for Malaysians
EntroPay is generally considered the most consistent way for Malaysians to deposit, withdraw and move their winnings and other cash between poker websites, as well as casinos and sports betting sites. Entropay is a virtual credit card that you can use wherever Visa card is accepted. Money can only be loaded into USD ($), EUR (€) or GBP (£) currency.
The Malaysian government have been ordering Malay banks to decline direct bank transfer payments and withdrawals from casinos, poker website operators and sports betting websites recently. Cashing out from poker websites is still possible via check, but this can be expensive as an option and cheques can take 15 days or more to arrive via Malaysian courier. My suggestion is to use EntroPay to withdraw and deposit your money to play Poker in Malaysia;
Options for withdrawing EntoPay funds in Malaysia
Transfer funds to bank account – The most straight forward option, simply login to EntroPay, click EntroPay Card, and then click Transfer Funds. There you can select the option ‘new bank account’ and follow the given instructions.
Withdraw funds from an ATM – EntroPay offer plastic physical MasterCards for a one-off fee of USD $9.99/GBP £4.99/EUR €7.49. With the plastic card, you can simply withdraw your money from any Malaysian cash point. Pay attention to the additional fees that the ATM operators add to the transaction, as it does vary between operators/locations.
Spending EntroPay Online – You can use your Entropay virtual Visa card or your physical plastic mastercard to buy items online, like you would a regular credit card. Just look for online stores who accept VISA or MasterCard and buy yourself something nice!
Best Online Malaysian Sportsbooks & Betting Sites
There are no fully licensed, legal online sportsbooks in Malaysia. So unless Malaysian gamblers want to hop over the border into Singapore, where restrictions on gambling (both live and online) are a lot lighter, then they will be forced to use foreign sports betting websites in order to place wagers on different sports.
OnlineGambling recommends the sportsbooks listed below, all of the websites listed accept sports bets in Malaysian Ringgit (MYR) and we have included notes on the websites various language and currency options available.
- Currency & Language
- Available in Chinese language (traditional 簡體字 & simplified 简体字). Bets in Ringgit (MYR) accepted. Great odds. Entropay & NETELLER accepted
Genting Highlands (Tanah Tinggi Genting) Casino Resort
Sometimes called ‘Resorts World Genting’, Genting Highlands is Malaysia’s only fully licensed land casino, and is a marvel for onlookers as it is a huge resort perched on the side of a mountain! There’s a theme park included to keep the kids entertained, but the real attraction is fully legal gambling for the non-muslim (they are prohibited from gambling under Sharia Law) Malaysian citizen. Malaysia’s city of entertainment is also located in the Malaysian highlands, so is a lot cooler then the steamy, tropical weather main land.
Casino games like roulette, baccarat and Chinese classics such as Tai Sai and Pai Gow can all be played in any of Genting highlands casino rooms:
- Monte Carlo Casino
- Hollywood Casino
- StarWorld Casino
If you are visiting from outside Malaysia, be warned: not a drop of alcohol is served in the entire resort!
Maybank Malaysian Asian Open Golf Betting
The 2013 Maybank Malaysian Open (the 2012 open started on April 12th) will be held at the Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club and will play host to many of the best golfers from Malaysia, and the world. Prize money in 2012 was USD $2.5million, it is predicted to be $3 million in 2013
The Gambling Laws in Malaysia
Online betting is very popular in Malaysia, but rarely a month passes without the news showing details of a major internet gambling site. This is misleading because these reports near always involve unlicensed gambling. Smart punters bet without fear because we use bookmakers that are legal and licensed in foreign countries.
In South East Asia, Philippines is a location with legal gambling. An even safer jurisdiction is the United Kingdom (UK). They have had licensed retail bookmakers since 1961. As these websites are legal and licensed abroad, Malaysian police have no jurisdiction over them. Players who use these sites in the privacy of their own home are not of police interest. This is very easy to do and is the safest option for betting online. In this article I discuss this topic in detail.
Which Gambling Sites to Use?
Gambling Law In Malaysia Kuala Lumpur
Depositing at websites located in the Philippines is the easiest. www.bodog88.com is an all-in-one from this location. They have real money poker, casino, sports betting and Mahjong. They accept bank transfers from Malaysian banks. This can be done using online banking or at the ATM Machine. However, UK sites are the most heavily regulated for game fairness and are the most financially secure. To use UK websites, depositing is an extra step.
EntroPay Explained
UK websites do not accept VISA and MasterCard debit that are connected to Malaysian banks. It is still possible to use your card to deposit. Just set up a free United States dollar (USD) account at www.entropay.com. This gives you a free Virtual Visa Card number. You can then use your Malaysian ringgit (MYR) debit card to fund Entropay in USD for a 4.9% load fee. Once your EntroPay card is loaded, it can be used to deposit at any of the UK betting sites listed below.
Where to Play from Malaysia
Bet365 is obvious. Ladbrokes has Malaysia promotions, and sponsors sports events in Malaysia. BWIN sets Malaysians to $12 betting limit so hard to make much unless you play a lot.
A couple quick notes is the first time you fund EntroPay you might need to register with Verified by VISA or MasterCard Secure Code for your card to work. This is easy to do; just follow the instructions provided when making the load. The other issue is do not panic if EntroPay sends you a notice that your account has been temporarily restricted. This is simply a security check. They are licensed in the UK where gambling is legal. It is fine to send them your ID, funding source, and tell them the name of the betting site you are looking to fund.
Sports Betting in Malaysia
If betting football and other sports is your interest, it is wise to open accounts at all the bookmakers I listed. This allows you to compare odds and bet at whichever bookmaker has the best price for the team or player you are looking to back. This said, www.bet365.com is the one MUST HAVE account. Astro, MiTV, FineTV and other Malaysian cable companies only cover so many spots matches. At Bet365 you can watch live-streams right from their website and even bet matches that are in-play.
For reason Bet365 is global you’ll find they cover more sports matches from around the world than any other site. All major and minor football leagues are available. You can also bet tennis, basketball, Formula 1, cricket, volleyball, badminton, ping-pong, darts, snooker and much more. They essentially have coverage of every league of ever country.
When it comes to Malaysian sports you can find these too. For football (soccer) this includes Liga Super Malaysia (Super League), Liga Perdana Malaysia (Premier League), Piala FA Malaysia (FA Cup) and Piala Malaysia (Malaysia Cup). As a basketball fan, their live in-play betting on Malaysia Dragons matches from ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) is one of my favorites. They also stream field hockey matches of our women’s team competing in World League. Tennis and badminton competitions held in Malaysia are also a plus.
The one thing to note is they do not offer Malay odds format the same as Asian bookies have. Here you’ll need to bet in decimal, US or UK odds. I have an article on how each odds format works.
When you join Bet365, before depositing ask them to change your account currency from Malaysian ringgit (MYR) to United States dollars (USD). Because your EntroPay account is in USD there is no point paying double exchange. Also, when using a USD account your first deposit is doubled. They offer a 100% up to $200 (US) initial deposit match as a sports betting bonus.
Online Casinos for Malaysia
All of the gambling sites listed earlier in this article have online casino games. These are quite advanced and include games with actual dealers being broadcast from a dealing studio. These dealers deal the cards, spin the wheel and shake the dice live in real time. You are watching this on your computer while making bets online. It functions much the same as if you were sitting in a casino of Resorts World Genting or any other.
There are also online slots and traditional RNG games too. No matter if you’re into baccarat, blackjack, roulette, craps (dice), slots or some other game you can find it each of the casinos listed.
Online Poker for Malaysia
The same as sports betting and casino, all the websites listed in this article offer online poker. If you’re looking for the largest player volume and massive tournaments I suggest instead using www.PokerStars.com – they accept EntroPay too. However, the easiest to beat games are at www.bodog88.com. Most of the player base comes from China, Thailand, Korea, and Malaysia. Poker is not yet popular in any of those countries. As a result you will find many players who are new to poker and not very good. This makes the games on average much easier to beat.
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