The government of Timor-Leste on Wednesday approved a Council of Ministers resolution to cancel licences for online gambling and betting, citing risks to security and social stability.

The resolution, presented by the Minister of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, Agio Pereira, also determines the cancellation of ongoing procedures for granting new licences and the prohibition of issuing new licences for such activities, according to a Council of Ministers statement.

The resolution was approved following identified risks to the country's security, social stability, economic integrity and international reputation, the statement said.

The resolution also determines that the minister responsible, together with security forces, will oversee implementation of the measures approved by the government resolution.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) warned on 11 September about the proliferation of criminal networks in Oecussi, a Timorese enclave on the Indonesian side of Timor island, noting that recent investigations show contamination of the region.

The special administrative region of Oecussi appears to have already been targeted by criminal networks, a UNODC report on Timor-Leste stated, indicating that there are clear signs of digital criminal activity in the area, including the involvement of individuals previously convicted of similar crimes in other Asian countries.

The UNODC document was released following an investigation by Timorese authorities that resulted in the detention of 10 people on suspicion of involvement in illegal gambling operations and computer fraud in Oecussi.

The expansion of Southeast Asia's fraud centre industry into Timor-Leste is a sign of its overall growth, experts said, noting that the Timor-Leste case has striking similarities to other problematic illegal online gambling centres such as Cambodia, Laos, the Philippines and Malaysia.

The problem, they warned, could worsen with Timor-Leste's accession to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in October.

In the same report, UNODC stated that a person holding a position in the Timor-Leste government is one of the owners of a hotel that appears to host companies with criminal activity.

Hotel A is managed by several people, including one who holds a position in the government of Timor-Leste; [the hotel] appears to host companies operating from its facilities and has been associated, through common business interests, with another hotel establishment in Dili linked to the recently removed leadership of RAEOA [Special Administrative Region of Oecussi], the report on new criminal networks operating in the Timorese enclave stated.

Source: https://www.macaubusiness.com/timor-leste-scraps-online-gambling-licences