Yes, they can, claims Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) member and lawyer Derek Fernandez (below). "We can close down the outlets that don't comply with our ruling," he said.
However, in an earlier statement, sports betting licensee Berjaya Corporation Berhad had said that it will be offering its 'products' through 200 of its own existing Sports Toto gaming outlets.To that, Fernandez said that the 12 local councils in Selangor will soon be sending letters to the Sports Toto outlet operators informing them that they cannot conduct sports betting on their premises.
"If they breach the condition, their licences may be either revoked or not renewed," he said when contacted by Malaysiakini.
He said existing Sports Toto outlets would need to apply for new licences from the local councils to conduct sports betting.
"We maintain that they do, but, of course, their own lawyers will say that they don't have to," Fernandez said, citing Section 101 (v) of the Local Government Act.
Under the heading 'further powers of local authority', the section provides for local councils 'to do all things necessary for or conducive to public safety, health and convenience'.
Sports betting, lottery different
"The local councils can do all that is necessary. We have the general power. We have the right to control premises using the same model as Kelantan's authorities (who imposed a blanket ban on gambling in the 1990s).
"We can impose new guidelines and we have the right to formulate policies from time to time," he said.
He also said that there was a big difference between sports betting and the existing forms of legalised gambling in the country.
"Sports betting uses the media as a platform for the purposes of gaming. Mass media like TV is broadcasted into houses. It's bringing gambling into our homes."So when you or your child look at football, you don't look at it as entertainment but as gambling," he said.
He also said that the federal government had years ago banned the live telecast of horseracing because it de-stigmatises the activity as a form of gambling.
"But now with sports betting, watching horseracing is the same as watching a game of football or badminton," he said.
He also said that the current plethora of lottery games as well as slot machine premises were adequate to satisfy the public's gambling needs.
"So there is no need for more," he said, adding that the local councils do not plan to close existing gaming outlets.
Stopping illegal betting 'a myth'
The urban planning lawyer also rubbished the argument that legalised sports betting will put a stop to underground gambling syndicates, which Berjaya Corp has estimated to represent a loss of RM20 billion per annum in uncollected tax revenue.
"If legalisation is given to the individual illegal operators, then this argument is maybe valid.
But this is not the case. By giving a monopoly to just one operator, the illegal bookies will still not close down.
"In fact, it will just create a price war and the illegal operators will still raise the winnings payouts to make it more attractive to punters," he said.
"If you really want to be honest about it, then just award the a sport betting licence to everyone."
No comments:
Post a Comment