Kuala Lumpur：I am gravely concerned by the rapid spread of illegal online gambling across Sarawak. I call on both the Federal and State Governments to act together, urgently and decisively, to protect our communities from this menace. Above all, they must protect our youth and children, whose future it is robbing.
I raised this issue directly during my Budget 2027 debate in the Dewan Rakyat today. I even named some of the gambling top-up dens operating in Kuching under the guise of convenience stores, and called for urgent action.
A generation ago, Malaysia declared war on drugs. We named them public enemy number one, passed tough laws, built a dedicated agency, and rallied schools, places of worship and communities behind a common cause.
Today, we face a new war on drugs, the addiction to illegal online gambling. This drug is not smoked or injected, and it needs no dealer lurking in a dark alley. It lives in the pocket of every young person, available 24 hours a day, and is sold over the counter as easily as a loaf of bread. If we fail to act now, we risk losing a generation.
It is an open secret in Sarawak that some shops, operating in the guise of convenience stores, are selling online gambling “top-ups” over the counter. Alongside them are the so-called “kedai kuning”. These coffee shops have bright yellow signboards, and many have the entire premises painted yellow. They serve little more than instant noodles and drinks, but in truth they operate as gambling dens where people gather, buy credits and play. What began in Kuching has now spread to towns and villages across the state.
These premises are hiding in plain sight. Everyone knows what they are. How, then, did they obtain licences as food and beverage outlets? I urge the Home Ministry, PDRM and local authorities to investigate without delay, review how these licences were approved, and make their findings public.
Parents have come to my office in tears, and shared how their family was torned apart, and their futures destroyed.
In one case brought to my attention, a young man with stable employment began by purchasing a RM10 top-up at a shop near his home. An early win of RM50 encouraged him to continue. Over time his losses mounted, and he used his earnings in an attempt to recover them.
When his funds were exhausted, he was offered a loan by individuals linked to the same gambling network, with no documentation required. Within months, a RM2,000 loan had grown into a debt of RM50,000. This was followed by intimidation: threatening messages to his mother, visits to his workplace, and red paint splashed on the family’s front door.
His parents used their life savings to repay the debt. When this proved insufficient, they were compelled to sell their ancestral land passed down through generations, to settle part of the amount owed.
The syndicate then offered him a way out. He would act as their agent and recruit new players in exchange for a reduction in his debt. In this way, victims are turned into recruiters and pressured to draw friends and relatives into the same trap.
This is how these syndicates grow, on the backs of our children, and it is happening right now across Sarawak.
This is no longer just a social ill. It has become a threat to public safety.
On 20 September, objects believed to contain explosive or flammable materials were thrown into convenience stores in Kuching and Sri Aman. Police believe the attacks arose from a business dispute linked in part to the sale of gambling top-ups. They are seeking Interpol’s assistance to track suspects who have fled the country.
We are also seeing more gangs causing unrest and getting into open fights in public places, endangering innocent people nearby. Many of these clashes are allegedly fuelled by turf wars and disputes within the illegal online gambling world. When criminal rivalries spill onto our streets, coffee shops and shopping areas, every member of the public is put at risk.
Between 2022 and 2025, police in Sarawak made nearly 5,000 arrests and asked MCMC to block 1,477 websites. Still, the top-up counters keep reopening, because the money keeps flowing. Honest shopkeepers who refuse to sell top-ups are losing customers to those who do. This cannot be allowed to continue.
I welcome the Government’s commitment to draft a dedicated law against illegal gambling, and I commend PDRM for its ongoing Op Dadu. But every day we delay, more ground is lost.
Occasional raids and press statements alone will not win this war. The war on drugs made some progress because we built a dedicated structure to fight it, and online gambling demands nothing less.
Enforcement, licensing, utilities, banking and community welfare are spread across Federal and State jurisdictions, so no single agency can win this fight alone. I therefore urge both the Federal and State Governments to immediately establish a permanent Federal–State Special Taskforce on Online Gambling, built on five pillars:
(1)Clear inter-agency cooperation. Chaired at ministerial level, the taskforce should bring together PDRM, Bank Negara, MCMC, the Housing and Local Government Ministry, the State Government and local councils. It needs clear roles, shared intelligence and coordinated action, so that no agency works in isolation and no syndicate slips through the gaps between them.
(2)Hunt down the masterminds. A dedicated D7 unit with its own intelligence cell should pursue the syndicate bosses and the gangs that enforce their rule, not just the counter staff.
(3)Follow and seize the money. Freeze the mule accounts behind gambling top-ups and illegal loans, and seize syndicate assets under the Anti-Money Laundering Act.
(4)Shut them down for good. Automatically revoke licences, blacklist owners and landlords, and cut electricity supply. Block gambling sites and advertisements within hours, not weeks.
(5)Protect and rescue our young. Set up confidential hotlines for village heads, teachers and parents, and run prevention programmes in schools and universities. Provide addiction counselling and debt advice that reaches every rural community.
The taskforce must be given a permanent legal footing under the coming gambling law, just as the National Anti-Drugs Agency anchors our fight against drugs.
Every day we wait, another family is pushed deeper into debt, another young life is drawn into a syndicate, and another street becomes less safe. Our children deserve to grow up in communities that are safe, and to inherit futures that have not been gambled away. An enemy that operates every day must be met by a force that works every day.
Dr. Kelvin Yii Lee Wuen
Member of Parliament Bandar Kuching
