3,294 raids on gambling premises this year

A total of 3,294 raids were carried out on premises providing computerised gambling activities in Johor between January and July this year, the State Assembly sitting here was told today. State Executive Councillor for Housing and Local Government, Datuk Abdul Latiff Bandi said that during the raids, 1,351 people involved in gambling activities were detained and 8,812 gambling machines were seized. "In the continuous efforts to check gambling activities at entertainment outlets in the state of Johor, the local authorities cooperated with the other relevant agencies such as the police, district offices, and National Anti-Drugs Agency," he said. The integrated operations revealed that there were gambling machines being used at family entertainment outlets or cyber cafes, he said. He said this when replying to a verbal question from Yeo Tung Siong (DAP-Pekan Nenas) on the action taken by the state government in tackling computerised gambling activities in Johor at the First Session of the 13th Johor State Assembly sitting. Replying to a verbal question from Ee Chin Li (DAP-Tangkak), he said the State Exco Meeting on June 19 had decided that the district offices and local authorities would no longer renew family entertainment centre licences. He said new applications for licences had been frozen while licences of family entertainment centres that breached the conditions specified had been revoked. To date, he said, 155 entertainment licences in the state were still active while there were 172 applications for new licences.