Malaysia Online Gambling Block: 7,411 Sites, 4 a Day

Malaysia has blocked 7,411 gambling websites since 2022, Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil told the Dewan Rakyat on 29 October 2026. Over the same period, 1 January 2022 to 15 September 2026, 828,438 pieces of online gambling content were removed. The blocks are carried out by internet providers at MCMC’s request, while the police handle the gambling offences. Online gambling is not legal in Malaysia, and a blocked site is not a safer site: it is an unlicensed one with no one to complain to. Below: how blocking works, why sites return, and what it means for you.

What the minister actually said on 29 October

Fahmi gave the figures while winding up the debate on the 2027 Supply Bill. As theSun reported, the government has removed 828,438 items of online gambling content and blocked 7,411 gambling websites since 2022. The cut-off date for that tally is 15 September 2026.

He also split the work between two bodies:

• Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) investigates and enforces gambling offences.
• MCMC, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, gives technical help: it asks internet providers to block websites and asks platforms to remove content.

He named two 2026 joint operations, Ops JOL and Ops Soga XI. Ops Soga XI targeted betting on the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Takeaway: 7,411 is a verified, official figure, but it counts four years and eight months of blocking, not one year.

Who blocks gambling sites in Malaysia, and under which law

MCMC does not block sites by itself. It asks licensed internet providers to do it. The legal hook is section 263 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998. Under section 263(2), a licensee must, on request, use its best endeavours to “prevent the carriage of any communication” that breaks Malaysian law.

The gambling itself is illegal under older laws. Police reports on online gambling raids cite these most often:

• Common Gaming Houses Act 1953, used in the February 2026 Ops Angsa raids.
• Betting Act 1953, cited alongside the gaming act and anti-money-laundering law in the World Cup betting raids.
• Online Safety Act 2025 (Act 866), which the ministry listed in a July 2026 parliamentary reply on gambling takedowns.

The Online Safety Act took effect on 1 January 2026. It puts duties on licensed platforms, not on individual users. Platforms must reduce exposure to harmful content and offer a reporting tool. According to law firm Rahmat Lim & Partners, a platform that breaks these duties can be fined up to RM10 million.

A dedicated gambling law may be coming. In February 2026, Deputy Prime Minister Fadillah Yusof said a bill was being drafted. It could be a standalone act or amendments to the Common Gaming Houses Act. As of 31 October 2026 we found no report that it had been passed.

Takeaway: MCMC asks, internet providers block, and police prosecute. The gambling offences themselves still sit in laws from 1953.

Malaysia’s block numbers, checkpoint by checkpoint

Malaysia publishes no annual block report for gambling. The figures come out piecemeal, in parliamentary replies and press statements. On 31 October 2026 we gathered every official checkpoint we could verify and put them in one table.

Two warnings before you add anything up:

• The periods overlap. The 6,381 figure for 2020 to 2022 and the 4,484 figure from 2022 both include 2022. They cannot be summed.
• The counting may have changed. 6,381 sites in three years (2020 to 2022) is more than the 4,484 blocked in the 31 months from January 2022. The officials did not explain the gap.

The takedown requests behind the content figure are rising fast. Deputy Minister Teo Nie Ching told the Dewan Negara that MCMC sent 196,510 gambling takedown requests in 2024 and 293,057 in 2025. That is a 49% rise in one year. She said gambling made up 62% of MCMC’s takedown requests.

Takeaway: The official numbers come in overlapping chunks. Read the period before you quote the total.

The whack-a-mole maths

We turned the official checkpoints into daily rates. These are our own calculations, done on 31 October 2026, using calendar days in each stated period.

• 2022 to 15 Sep 2026: 7,411 sites in 1,719 days is about 4.3 sites a day. Content removals ran at about 482 items a day, or 112 items for every site blocked.
• 2022 to 1 Feb 2025: about 4.5 sites and 199 content items a day.
• Jan 2025 to May 2026: about 3.4 sites and 887 content items a day.

So the site block rate fell by almost a quarter, while daily content removals rose about 4.5 times.

Now compare that with what police found during the World Cup. In Ops Soga XI, from 11 June to 20 July 2026, police and MCMC detected 637 gambling-promoting websites in 40 days. That is about 16 a day, nearly four times the long-run block rate.

Detected is not the same as new, and not every site found gets blocked the same day. The direction is still clear. During big tournaments, sites appear faster than the average block rate.

Takeaway: Malaysia blocks about four gambling sites a day but removes nearly 900 posts a day. Blocking now plays second fiddle to ad removal.

Why blocked gambling sites keep coming back

A block stops one web address from loading on Malaysian networks. It does not shut the business down. Several things keep these operations alive.

• New addresses. Operators register fresh domain names and copies of the same site, often called mirror sites. In the Philippines, a 2025 watchdog count found several mirror sites “designed to bypass regulatory takedowns”.
• Offshore servers. Most sites are hosted abroad, so a country can only restrict local access. A Philippine senator compared them to mushrooms: “even if you block it now, it keeps coming back.”
• Social media ads. Of the gambling content removed up to February 2025, 93% was on Facebook.
• Slow platforms. Fahmi said in June 2025 that Telegram acted on less than half of MCMC’s removal requests, the lowest of any platform. In September 2026 he said 65,280 scam and gambling items were still online despite takedown requests.
• Apps instead of websites. The syndicate busted in July 2026, with an estimated RM27 million a day in betting credit, ran its own betting app.

We are deliberately not explaining how people get around blocks. That information mostly helps the operators.

Takeaway: A block removes an address, not an operator. The ads, chats and apps that carry the next address are where the real fight happens.

What a blocked site means for you as a player

If a betting site stops loading in Malaysia, that is a strong signal it has no Malaysian licence. Fahmi put it plainly in June 2026: “online gambling is not allowed in our country” (Malay Mail). For you, that means:

• No regulator to complain to. If a withdrawal is frozen or “pending” forever, there is no Malaysian body that can order the site to pay. Our guide to licensed vs unlicensed casinos explains what you lose.
• Your money passes through mule accounts. Illegal sites often take deposits through personal bank accounts. In Penang alone, more than 150 accounts holding over RM32 million were frozen in Ops Dadu, reported in May 2025. Lending your own account is a crime; see how money mule accounts work.
• The police do arrest people. Penang recorded 1,810 arrests for online gambling and its promotion in 2024. Ops Angsa in February 2026 arrested 388 people in simultaneous raids at 17 locations. Ops Soga XI made 945 arrests in 649 raids over the World Cup.
• Some “casinos” are scams from the start. Malaysian raids have found call centres running fake online casinos that never intended to pay anyone.

Takeaway: When a site is blocked, any balance you hold there has no legal protection. Stop depositing and keep records.

How to report gambling sites and scams in Malaysia

Fahmi has asked Malaysians to report gambling links to MCMC. If money has already gone, scam reporting comes first.

1. Report the site or ad to MCMC. Use the complaint portal at aduan.mcmc.gov.my, which covers online content. Include the link and a screenshot.
2. Report the ad on the platform too. Under the Online Safety Act, licensed platforms must give you a way to report harmful content.
3. If you were scammed, call 997 straight away. The National Scam Response Centre runs 24 hours a day. The government’s NSRC 997 page says to call within 24 hours so accounts can be frozen.
4. Call your bank, then make a police report.
5. Check the law before you play anywhere. Our Malaysia legality checker summarises what is allowed.

How Malaysia compares with its neighbours

Every country in the region blocks gambling sites, but each counts something different. Some count websites, some count websites and posts together, and some give no period at all. Treat the per-day column as a rough guide, not a league table.

Indonesia’s huge totals mix websites with individual posts, so they are not directly comparable with Malaysia’s site count. Our explainer on whether Indonesia’s crackdown is working covers its numbers in detail. The Philippines is still debating bills to ban or tighten online gambling, and India went further with a 2025 ban on online money games. For the full regional picture, see whether online gambling is legal in 14 Asian countries.

Takeaway: Malaysia blocks more sites per day than Singapore and far fewer items than Indonesia, but no country in the region claims to have stopped the sites coming back.

FAQ

Is online gambling legal in Malaysia?

No. The communications minister said in June 2026 that online gambling is not allowed in Malaysia. Police prosecute online gambling under laws such as the Common Gaming Houses Act 1953 and the Betting Act 1953, and MCMC has its sites blocked.

Who blocks gambling websites in Malaysia?

MCMC asks licensed internet providers to block them, using section 263 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998. Police investigate the gambling offences and can ask MCMC to act.

How many gambling sites has MCMC blocked?

7,411 gambling websites between 1 January 2022 and 15 September 2026, according to Fahmi Fadzil on 29 October 2026. That is about four a day.

Why do I still see gambling ads after all the blocks?

Ads and posts are removed by the platforms, not by internet providers, and new ones appear every day. MCMC sent 293,057 gambling takedown requests in 2025, and some platforms act on fewer requests than others. Report what you see at aduan.mcmc.gov.my and on the platform itself.

What should I do if a blocked site still holds my money?

Stop depositing, and don’t pay any “release fee” to withdraw. If you think you were scammed, call the NSRC on 997 as soon as possible, then contact your bank and make a police report. Keep screenshots of every deposit and chat.

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