Malaysia Building Casino in NYC, Upholds Secular Gambling Laws

Posted: September 28, 2010

Updated: October 4, 2017

While at home a political tussle brews over Malaysian gambling laws, business interests from the country have signed a huge $380 million

While at home a political tussle brews over Malaysian gambling laws, business interests from the country have signed a huge $380 million contract with the state of New York to build a casino within the Aqueduct Racetrack in New York City.

Kuala Lumpur-based Genting Malaysia Bhd. submitted a bid to the state government that was fully $80 million more than the prescribed minimum – and delivered payment five days before it was due.

Some 1,600 slot machines are planned to be installed within the next six months; before the end of 2011, Genting plans to put in over 2,900 more games plus a 2,100-space parking garage for the facility. New York Lottery, which held the tender, predicts the machines will produce about $280 million in revenue annually. New York governor David Paterson gave his approval on the transaction, stating that “After almost a decade of delay, this project is finally becoming a reality and all New Yorkers will benefit.”

Meanwhile, back in Malaysia, opposition party PAS is hoping to redefine the Malaysian legal system as one based on Islamic law. Party members have recently made an issue of the fact that relief efforts for the poor are being funded with revenues from sportsbook and gambling revenues. However, in a court hearing this week on gambling and other moral issues, the country’s supreme court upheld a 1988 ruling stating that Malaysia must be ruled by secular law first.

The PAS has long sought to radically overhaul laws on land-based and internet gambling in Malaysia – in effect, illegalizing them altogether for religious reasons – but efforts so far have been in vain.

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