State local government committee chairman Dr Hayati Othman said the decision to allow the shops to continue doing business came after consideration of legal implications arising from the ban.

Last year, Kedah said it had ordered all local councils in the state not to renew the business licence of gaming outlets to “weed out social ills” stemming from gambling.

“It is widely known that the finance ministry is the only agency that can approve gaming licences, while the state government can only issue policies to local governments to control licences for premises.

“In our discussion with the ministry, they told us that it had renewed all gaming licences of operators before the menteri besar’s announcement on Nov 14.

“The Kedah government then agreed that all number forecast operators (4D shops) and clubhouses run by associations in the state (with gaming elements) will have their council licences revoked on Dec 31 this year – in line with the finance ministry’s approval period,” Hayati said in reply to a question from Simon Ooi (PH-Bakar Arang) yesterday.

Hayati said only one of the 45 gaming licence holders in Kedah had closed their 4D business since the beginning of the year.

“The state government hopes the local council, district administration, police and other agencies will start monitoring and carry out enforcement so that there is no gambling in Kedah from Jan 1, 2023.”