KUCHING: Puncak Borneo MP Datuk Willie Mongin has urged the federal government to reconsider its decision to reduce the number of special lottery draws to eight from 22, reasoning that it will cause a dip in the country’s revenue.
He said decreasing the number of the special draws by more than half would result in lower ‘sin tax’ which could be used to help the country’s non-Muslims.
‘Sin tax’ is related to gambling, alcohol and tobacco products, among others.
Willie argued that reduced special draws could also lead to illegal gambling.
“This will see the government earning less. The sin tax can be used to help non-Muslims in the country,” he was quoted by Free Malaysia Today (FMT).
On Dec last year, Prime Minister Datuk Sri Anwar Ibrahim announced the reduction of special lottery draws.
He stated that it was a momentous move on the first day as the Minister of Finance.
In 2021, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s government had granted gaming companies 22 ‘special draws’ for 4-digit lotteries, on top of the normal three times weekly draws.
It was reported that Putrajaya collected an average of RM1.26 billion a year from the gaming industry between 2008 and 2012.
The amount of taxes collected from special draws from January to June 2013 alone was RM70.8 million.
In 2019, former finance minister Lim Guan Eng said the sin tax collected from gambling activities in the preceding year amounted to RM4.5 billion.
