If the imminent efforts to eradicate illegal gaming have the same 'fire' as the recent efforts to crackdown on VCD piracy, I will be the first to applaud these. However, this remains to be seen, as many earlier campaigns have been a farce, to the best of my knowledge.

Two areas of this "business" require continuous surveillance, namely:

  • Slot machines with licences approved for clubs only, may be moved to more "suitable" locations, like the lobbies of hotels or other places disguised as 'club premises'. These machines have collectively, and unfailingly destroyed many lives, poor and rich alike, because of easy accessibility.
  • Video arcades operating right in the middle of towns and villages, distinguished by the dark interiors and light blocking glass frontages. Why are such business allowed to operate unseen right in the middle of a congested area.? All you need is to make sure the business is brightly lit, and regularly monitored, and we can minimise the proliferation of such activities.

Between piracy and illegal gaming, the former is the lesser of two evils. If piracy can attract such righteous wrath from the authorities, then illegal/abuse of gaming should be met with even stronger determination and political will.