Malaysia PM denies nation looking at second casino

Apr 25, 2024 Newsdesk Latest News, Rest of Asia, Top of the deck  

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Malaysia’s political leader, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, described on Thursday as “a lie” and “not true” a Bloomberg report that the Malaysian government was mulling a second casino for the country, at struggling real estate development Forest City in Johor next door to Singapore.

Multiple Malaysia media outlets carried the prime minister’s denial, including the New Straits Times and the Malay Mail.

“Those who brought up the idea on casino licence are telling a lie, that’s not right,” said Mr Anwar, as quoted by the Malay Mail.

The latest media reports did not clarify whether – as Bloomberg had earlier reported on Thursday – the prime minister had last week, while at Forest City, met two of the country’s gaming entrepreneurs, Lim Kok Thay of global casino group Genting, and Vincent Tan of lottery specialist Berjaya Corp Bhd.

None of the parties mentioned in the original Bloomberg story had either confirmed the details or responded to requests for comment, according to the media outlet. Bloomberg attributed its information regarding the possibility of a casino at Forest City, to people it did not name, but who it said were familiar with the matter.

Genting runs what is currently Malaysia’s only casino resort, Resorts World Genting, at Genting Highlands, outside the national capital Kuala Lumpur.

The Bloomberg report said the current ceremonial monarch of Malaysia, Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar, who is also sultan of Johor state, held more than 20 percent of the joint venture vehicle – involving Chinese real estate firm Country Garden Holdings Ltd – that is the master developer of Forest City.

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