Coach Wants Sports Betting in Malaysia

[Harvey]

Malaysia should legalise football betting to stamp out match-fixing, a top coach said on Sunday after police launched a graft probe into five of the 13 teams in the Malaysian Super League.
Steve Darby, chief coach of former Malaysian Cup champions Perak state, said profits from betting could be used to improve the game here.

'We cannot stop betting,' he said.

'Legalised betting will help (prevent match-fixing). The money can be ploughed back to provide better training facilities for the players,' Mr Darby said.

Mr Darby added he had written to the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) three times to warn about possible match-fixing in the league after his players were approached.

Betting on football, a popular sport here, is illegal but neighbouring Singapore has legalised it.

[luckofthedraw]

I wonder if legalising it would prevent the problems? I guess it would make it easier or at least more likely to be monitored. There would still be the potential for cheating though.