In Malaysia, Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has reportedly revealed that the government is considering whether to tighten the rules on illegal gambling due to a recent explosion in the use of mobile devices to access online casinos and other banned websites.

According to a report from the Free Malaysia Today newspaper, 64-year-old Hamidi is moreover the nation’s Home Minister and made his disclosure early last week during a National Transformation 2050 conference held at the Universiti Putra Malaysia in Serdang.

Hamidi reportedly explained that the nation’s top police officials had already met with Attorney General Mohamed Apandi Ali to consider ways of amending the Common Gaming Houses Act 1953 but were also contemplating whether to formulate new anti-gambling legislation.

Hamidi reportedly told Free Malaysia Today that the government was giving ‘special attention’ to ways of improving laws against online gambling as the activity ‘can be conducted via smartphones’ and had become ‘rampant right now’. He declared that online casinos can often lead to the collapse of families along with the uncontrolled flow of money out of the country.

The Deputy Prime Minister reportedly stated that officials from the nation’s Ministry of Home Affairs had additionally collaborated with Interpol as well as numerous telecommunications providers to block online casinos based in neighboring countries as well as in Las Vegas and Macau.

Hamidi explained that Malaysia had stepped up its campaign against illegal online gambling and had conducted 5,913 raids across the country since Mohamad Fuzi Harun was appointed as the Inspector General of the Royal Malaysia Police on September 4.

“We have deported 416 China nationals believed to be involved in the Macau scam syndicate and efforts are being intensified to investigate 100 other suspects before they are deported to their countries of origin,” Hamidi reportedly told Free Malaysia Today. “Of the total, Selangor and Penang recorded the highest number of raids.”