InfinityGaming

GAMING NEWS
JANUARY 2016
25
Malaysia to tighten laws on internet gambling
It seems the Malaysian government want to get
tough on illegal online gambling within their
country after the country’s deputy home minister
said that the current legislation prevents the police from
prosecuting operators and needs changes.
“The police are facing constraints in prosecuting those
responsible. They have proposed amendments to the
laws on gambling to allow them to better deal with the
problem,” Mr Nur Jazlan said at the country’s House of
Representatives.
At present the only piece of legislation that covers
gambling was constructed in 1953 and although has
received several amendments since then none have covered
online gambling. The legislation makes it illegal for
all forms of unlicensed gambling but contains no mention
of “online” or “internet” or even “remote gambling”
so makes no power for police to arrest those running
gambling online illegal at present.
However plans are now being considered to make
amendments to the Communications and Multimedia
Act, Lotteries Act, Common Gaming House Act, as well
as the Betting Act to ensure online gambling will be
Betfair surprise analyst’s with H1 results
Betfair surprised many analyst’s with exceeding
expectations for the first half year results with a 15%
increase in revenues. The betting exchange firm
chief executive Breon Corcoran said: Betfair traded
strongly in its key markets throughout the first half
of FY16.
“These results, which came against a tough comparative
period featuring last year’s football World Cup,
are ahead of our original expectations and demonstrate
the Group’s continued strong momentum.
“Our strategy of focusing investment in markets
with good regulatory visibility continues to pay off.
Betfair’s relatively low exposure to unregulated jurisdictions
meant that even though revenue decline
in these markets accelerated, primarily due to the
impact of suspending operations in Portugal, it was
more than offset by growth in sustainable markets.”
Total revenues for H1 ending October 31 stood at
£274.4 million compared to £237.6 million in 2014.
Profits were up 9% from £67.2 million last year to
£80.5 million in 2015.
Betfair and Paddy Power who have agreed a merger
of the two companies which is still Subject to shareholder
and regulatory approval expect the deal to
go through in the first quarter of 2016.
INFINITY GAMING