Malaysia Removes More Than 724,000 Online Gambling Posts in Nearly Two Years

Malaysia’s Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has spent almost two years taking down online gambling content at scale: 738,372 removal requests, 724,879 posts deleted, and 2,603 illegal gambling sites blocked with the help of providers and law enforcement. For high-risk operators and PSPs, the important part is not the headline number; it is the combination of content takedowns, site blocking, and the push to trace payment flows.

1. Deputy Communications Minister presented the MCMC data to parliament. From 1 January 2025 to 31 October 2026, the regulator sent 738,372 content removal requests tied to online gambling, and 724,879 posts — 98% — were removed.
2. Over the same period, 2,603 illegal gambling websites were blocked with the assistance of providers and law enforcement. That matters because Malaysia is not treating this as a pure content-moderation issue; it is hitting both distribution channels and access points.
3. Between January and July 2026 alone, authorities shut down 573 gambling sites and removed 253,424 advertising materials. In other words, the enforcement load did not ease up after the first wave.
4. MCMC also supported police operations against illegal betting during major sporting events, including the 2026 World Cup. For operators active in sports betting, that is a clear sign that event-driven traffic is being watched closely.
5. Together with police and telecom operators, the commission is running Op Pancing and Op Delusi against fake base stations used to send SMS messages with betting links. The government is also studying a proposal for joint work by MCMC, Bank Negara Malaysia, commercial banks, and law enforcement to track and block financial transactions and bank accounts linked to illegal online gambling networks.

For PSPs and acquiring teams, the useful detail is the direction of travel: Malaysia is moving from content removal into a broader enforcement model that reaches telecom infrastructure and, potentially, the banking layer. That usually means the compliance conversation stops being about URLs alone.