TLDR Malaysia is studying a plan to bring Bank Negara Malaysia and banks into its fight against online gambling. MCMC removed 724,879 gambling-related items between January 2025 and October 2026. That figure equals 98% of the 738,372 takedown requests sent in the period. MCMC and its partners blocked 2,603 gambling websites, including 573 from January to July 2026. Police lead arrests and asset seizures, while MCMC provides technical and investigative support.
Malaysia is studying a plan to bring its central bank and commercial banks into the fight against online gambling, a senior official told Parliament this week. The proposal would target the money behind gambling syndicates, not just the websites they run.
Deputy Communications Minister Teo Nie Ching shared the update during the Dewan Rakyat question session on November 3. She also gave new figures on how much gambling content the country’s regulator has removed since early 2025.
The proposal is still under study, Teo said. No timeline or final structure was announced.
Banks Could Join the Effort
The idea came up when Roy Angau Gingkoi (GPS-Lubok Antu) asked about a stricter way to block bank accounts and payments tied to gambling groups. Teo said officials are looking at closer cooperation between the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), Bank Negara Malaysia, banks and enforcement agencies.
She said the plan could improve monitoring of gambling activity. It could also support tougher action against the people running these operations.
The financial focus would sit alongside existing work. That work centers on finding gambling content online and blocking the sites that host it.
Roy Angau had also asked about MCMC’s tools for detecting gambling traffic. His question covered how servers and platforms are identified and blocked, including joint work with the Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM).
Takedown Numbers Climb
Teo