The Malaysian Government are relaxing a long held ban on sports betting to combat the growing illegal gambling market.
Late last year, Malaysian officials made it known they were concerned about the rapid growth in illegal sports betting. Officials estimate that the current black market for sports betting could be worth up to 20 billion ringit ($6 billion) annually.
And it is only going to escalate with the World Cup just around the corner. Almost 90% of current betting activity is believed to be soccer related and clearly the World Cup will be on punters radar.
Until now, sport betting retail shops fell under the definition of 'common betting houses' in Malaysia's Betting Act and were therefore illegal. But this has now changed, with the government awarding a sports betting license to Vincent Tan's Ascot Sports.
Ascot will initially only offer retail outlets and telephone betting, although they do plan to seek permission to take the operation online as well in the future.
Like previous horse wagering and lottery policies sports betting services will remain illegal to Malaysia's 18 million strong Muslim population, and only be available to the 10 million or so non-Muslim population which largely comprises ethnic Indian and Chinese.
A government spokesperson defended the license to Ascot Sports, saying,
'The government all along has been hesitant to allow such activities, but then again if the government doesn't control it with a set of rules, the underground market for sports betting shall continue to thrive, like it or not.'
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