Despite best efforts by the Pakatan Rakyat state governments to hamper efforts by the federal government to introduce sports betting, it would seem that there are still loopholes allowing the business to take place in Pakatan-run states.

Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim ( below, second from right )today conceded that sports betting - licensed by the federal government to the Berjaya Group recently - is still likely to be launched and there may nothing the state could do about it.

NONE He said the state government had already ordered all of its 12 local councils to not issue new gambling premises licences for Berjaya’s new sports betting outlets.

However, Khalid was evasive when it was pointed out to him that the state authorities would be powerless if the company were to operate without a physical premise and instead depended on a network of registered and mobile bookies who went around collecting bets from punters.

This is because sports betting does not necessarily need outlets as bookies or franchise-holders can operate without premises, often taking in bets by phone or even through the Internet.

"If they want to bet at the minister’s house, we cannot stop them," Khalid told a press conference ( above ) after chairing a weekly state exco meeting at Shah Alam this morning.

The sports betting licence was awarded to Ascot Sports Sdn Bhd, which was later bought over by Berjaya Corporation Berhad which also owns the Sports Toto four-digit numbers forecast gaming company.

‘Nothing much we can do’

It was previously reported that selected Sports Toto outlets in West Malaysia would also double-up as outlets for the new sports betting venture. Is this were the case, it is unclear if the sports betting outlets would still require new gambling premises licences.

Berjaya Corp had also said through a press statement earlier that it planned to offer its new ‘products’ via a telephone betting facility.

For the time-being therefore, it would seem that the anti-sports betting pledges by the Pakatan states could be neutralised by technicalities to the advantage of Berjaya Corp.

Selangor state exco member Ronnie Liu admitted that apart from getting the local councils to stop issuing new gambling premises licences, there was nothing much else they could do.

"Of course, registered bookies can still SMS or call using their handphones. We cannot stop them," he told Malaysiakini when contacted.

But as for whether existing Sports Toto outlets would need a separate gambling premise licence for sports betting, he was noncommittal.

"In the event where (Sports Toto outlets) accept bets over their own counters and whether we can or cannot stop, we are still studying the matter with our legal advisors," he said, adding

that the legal advisors would only wrap up their research next week.

More tax revenue boost

He also yielded, saying that the state government was only ‘just making it slightly difficult’ for Ascot’s sports betting operators.

"Whatever we can stop, we stop," he said.

Berjaya Corp had hoped to cash in on the World Cup fever - which starts on June 11 and ends  on July 11 - by rolling out their sports betting facilities then. However, industry analysts say that it is unlikely they will be able to do so in time.

The betting games will not just be available for the World Cup but also for other popular sports seasons encompassing basketball, motor racing, tennis, golf and others.

The Treasury hopes to net about RM400 million in tax revenue annually from legalised sports betting.

However, Berjaya Corp has said the illegal sports betting market in Malaysia was estimated to be as much as RM20 billion per annum representing a tremendous loss of tax revenue to the government which Ascot Sports claims to be able to mitigate.

Deputy Finance Minister Chor Chee Heung had earlier lambasted the proposed move by the Pakatan states to ban sports betting, saying that it was ‘illegal’ and went against the federal constitution.