The Perak DAP has challenged Mentri Besar Zambry Abdul Kadir to follow the footsteps of Penang, Kedah, Selangor and Kelantan in preventing legalised sports betting from taking a foothold in the state.

Recently, the federal government issued a sports gaming license to business tycoon Vincent Tan's company, Ascot Sports Sdn Bhd in January.

At the moment, it seems unlikely that the business will be ready in time to take bets on the FIFA World Cup in South Africa, which is from June 11 to July 11.

NONE DAP state secretary Nga Kor Ming said that Zambry must walk the talk that he is a people friendly chief minister by not allowing such forms of gambling in the silver state.

Nga said that Zambry must promote healthy lifestyles rather than social ills.

"Legalising gambling on soccer may cause a domino effect in encouraging betting on other sports like badminton, hockey, and tennis," warned the Taiping MP cum Pantai Remis assemblyperson.

Nga said the projected gross collection from legalising such an activity could amount to RM9 billion a year and a RM500 million annual revenue for the federal government.

"Is the government trying to tell its citizens that it is going bankrupt and needs the revenue from such gambling activities to run the country?" He asked.

"What about its moral obligations to Malaysians - is it prepared to sacrifice the future of the coming generations and destroy the very fibre of our Malaysian society just to make its cronies happy?" asked the angry party national treasurer.

He alleged that Umno is hypocritical as it claims to support the principles of Islam while at the same time promoting gambling which the religion deems illegal.

He does not buy BN's argument that legalising football gambling will discourage illegal gambling.

Parallel illegal betting system

He pointed out that there is a parallel illegal betting system flourishing which is similar to the legalised lottery, Magnum 4D.

v sivakumar perak state assembly speaker pc 060509 Nga was speaking at a media conference with other party leaders including state party chief Ngeh Koo Ham and ousted Pakatan assembly speaker V Sivakumar (right) at state party headquarters yesterday.

Meanwhile, Sivakumar said the effects of social ills by such gambling promotion include:

1. Creating financial chaos in Malaysian families if their earnings are diverted to gambling.

2. Encourage more people to gamble in other forms if gambling is legalised.

3. A drop in moral standards because of gambling.

4. Give birth to a new generation of Malaysians who will be addicted to gambling.

5. An increase in the crime rate to sustain the gambling habit.

6. A loss in sporting spirit among Malaysians with the rise in gambling.

Sivakumar blamed BN for not carrying out its social responsibilities towards the majority of Malaysians but instead chose to enrich its cronies.

"Come the 13th general election, we will banner a slogan like "The rich are getting richer while the poor are getting poorer' to get our message across to the voters," he said.