hello,

There is a company operating online betting website which is legally registered company in UK and Australia. Is it legal for msian to access from malaysia? The server for this website is located outside of malaysia

I've did some basic reading on act (common gaming house act, digital act, multimedia act) but none specifically says about online Internet gambling.

I came accross an article on New Straits Times June 2010 article where a punter sue an online gambling service. In this case the lawyer assume its legal for msian user to access online gambling website? If were to seek proper advise from Laywer.. roughly need to prepare how much?

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KUALA LUMPUR: A punter has sued an online gambling service for failing to pay out his winnings of more than RM260,000 as well as the newspaper that carried an advertisement offering the online gambling service.
In his statement of claim, Chuah Yan Keng, a 43-year-old contractor, said he was lured by the advertisement that the company was offering a legal online gambling service.

He said that when he won RM261,286.35 and requested payment from Teleplanet Sdn Bhd, the company refused to pay.


Yesterday, Chuah, of Seri Kembangan, filed a suit at the High Court registry yesterday against Teleplanet and The China Press Bhd for breach of contract and breach of statutory duty.

In the suit, Chuah claimed that China Press, at the request of Teleplanet, had printed an advertisement in the newspaper that contained fraudulent representation in relation to goods and services provided by Teleplanet and/or gambling websites such as Citi Net, Aastar Net and SBO Net.

Chuah said that according to the advertisement, in order to participate in the online gambling, he had to deposit a specified sum of money into a bank account furnished by Teleplanet, against which he could place online bets.


He said he paid RM150,000 into the bank account, and when he made losses amounting to that same amount, he paid Teleplanet.

Yet, when he claimed his winnings of RM261,286.35, the company refused to pay up.

He said the representation in the advertisement was that Teleplanet would make prompt payments on all winnings.


As for China Press, Chuah claimed that it had published a misleading or deceiving advertisement as to the nature of the goods and services offered by Teleplanet.

The contractor also claimed that China Press failed to make all reasonable inquiries to ascertain if Teleplanet was providing a legal online gambling service, taking into account the contents and nature of the advertisement, and that Citi Net, Aastar Net and SBO Net were known gambling websites.

Chuah is seeking a declaration that the contract between him and Teleplanet is void and for an injunction to restrain both Teleplanet and China Press from causing or making or publishing a similar advertisement.

Chuah is also seeking the sum of RM150,000 and RM261,286.35 in exemplary damages and other costs.

Lawyer Ravi Sodhi, who filed the suit on behalf of Chuah, said this was a test case that would determine if newspaper companies had the obligation to enquire into the companies or individuals that placed advertisements with them


Read more: Punter sues to get his online winnings http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles/13JCHI/.../#ixzz177qSRMwS

I think it depends on where you commit the act of gambling, online or offline. Chances are it's illegal in Malaysia, since you're gambling with an outlet registered locally.

not really sure if it's legal or not, i don't think it matters unless you're a big timer playing for alot of money like the guy trying to sue in that article. i play online poker on american servers casually and have made about a few hundred bucks so far. these sites are sanctioned by some US dept so you'll unlikely to run into payment problems. only problem is starting an account on these site without an US account.

i've played with foreign gambling sites as well and so far their payments had been prompt. But i do worry sometimes that they might not pay, because i wouldnt know who to contact. its a risk right there.

This post has been edited by teongpeng: Dec 8 2010, 07:35 PM

Lets assume accessing the website online but the website is physically hosted outside of Malaysia, plus the company is registered legally at UK. The act of accessing it is done in Malaysia. Thoughts?

I don't know if its legal to gamble on sites hosted outside of M'sia but AFAIK a few friends and I have played on famous US poker sites and they do pay, eventually. I know its illegal to play these games in the public though. eg playing online poker in a public wifi where the public can see you play

Anyone knows under which Act it specifically says this scenario under this circumstances is completly illegal? I would be glad if someone can point me to a law firm that is specialized in this area and can produce a proper written legal advice on this subject (bearing in mind I'm willing to pay for cosultantcy) Thanks

I manage to find one of the Akta and I'm not sure whether related on your scenario but it's about betting.

Betting and Sweepstake Duties Act 1948 [Act 201]
http://www.agc.gov.my/Akta/Vol.%205/Act%20201.pdf

I know a few friends who play on these kind of online gambling sites which are hosted out of Malaysia. Sites hosted out of Malaysia cannot be controlled whoever that access it. Only thing the government could do is to stop streamyx or any other ISP's from allowing its' users to access these sites.

TS, if you registered a company in Malaysia and even though your site is outside Malaysia, no it is not legal. Most of these companies do not register a company in Malaysia. Why some companies still register company in Malaysia? It is for the purpose of large scale amount of transactions into their company's account. Because, without a registered company, the limitation for each transaction is very low.

About the article, it is a bit weird that he needs to make a deposit of RM150,000 as my friend has an account with a credit of RM200,000 and he does not need to deposit a single cent. I personally think he has been scam by conman companies. Also, if he did not dealt directly with a company, in which he went through agents, there's a high possibility that his deposits and winnings were all eaten by the agent itself.