Lim Guan Eng. – Bernama file photo
KUALA LUMPUR: Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng says the government plans to reduce the number of special draws for all numbers forecast operators (NFO) beginning 2019, to reduce social problems related to gambling activities.
He said the new policy would be announced in Budget 2019 on Nov 2.
“In 2018, there were 22 special draws held simultaneously throughout the country.
“The reduction in the number of special draws is an initial step by the government to reduce gambling activities, so as to curb social problems such as excessive gambling addiction,” he said at the Dewan Rakyat sitting today.
He was responding to a question from Wong Shu Qi (PH-Kluang) on whether the government planned to allow NFOs such as Magnum, Sports Toto and Da Ma Cai to continue holding special draws on certain Tuesdays in 2019 and the subsequent years ahead.
The special draw was introduced in 1999 to assist victims during the Nipah Virus outbreak at the time, it has continued to date even though the epidemic has long been over.
Lim said the government had collected RM200 million sin tax since 1999, or an average of RM20 million per year.
“The purpose of this account is to cover costs for sports, health, cultural and social programmes that benefit the community and the country as contained in the guidelines for using money from the Ministry of Finance’s special sources trust account,” he said.
In answering a supplementary question from Datuk Seri Dr Ronald Kiandee (BN-Beluran) on why the government was not enforcing an immediate reduction in the number of draws if it was truly concerned about reducing social problems caused by gambling, Lim said the government did not want to make a decision in haste, and give all the parties involved some time.
“This is an improvement when we have reduced it (the number of special draws), we want to see the progress in the future, and we also want to be fair to all parties. Notices will be issued to those (companies) involved, is this not better than the previous government, which maintained it without any reduction? “, he said in reply to a supplementary question from Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan (PAS-Kota Bharu).
Takiyuddin had questioned the Pakatan Harapan government’s move to allow the special draw to continue when DAP MPs themselves had prior to this urged for the special draws to be halted as it caused financial problems, especially those from the lower income group who were addicted to gambling.
Takiyuddin also read a report published on Roketkini.com dated Nov 1, 2016, which quoted Seremban MP Anthony Loke Siew Fook and former Kluang MP Liew Chin Tong urging the government at the time to stop the special draws.
Loke had reportedly said that NFO operators such as Magnum, Toto and Da Ma Cai were allowed by the Ministry of Finance to hold draws on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday, while it was permitted to hold two special draws in a month on Tuesdays.
This had caused weeks in which special draws were allowed, to have four draw days. – Bernama