On Wednesday, police arrested 12 people, including three women, in a shoplot, which was running such an operation in Taman Jumbo, Petagas, Penampang, near here.
Twenty-eight machines and RM634 were seized from the suspects.
A police officer taking a closer look at one of the 28 machines seized from the outlet at Taman Jumbo in Petagas, Penampang, on Wednesday.
The outlet, located on the first floor, was equipped with closed-circuit television cameras (CCTVs) and a bell ringer which was used as a warning system.
District police chief Deputy Superintendent Ratan Kumar Singh said police had kept the outlet under surveillance for several days after receiving information from the public.
"The outlet operators were discreet and they only allowed people with certain passwords to enter."
State Criminal Investigation Department chief Senior Assistant Commissioner Omar Mammah yesterday said it was not easy to detect such outlets because of the way they operated.
He said the public might think it was easy to detect such outlets, but not to the authorities who had to battle against the odds to outsmart the gambling den operators.
"They open their outlets during odd hours.
"They also set up a warning system which included CCTVs to screen their patrons, while placing their 'watchmen' in nearby shops to detect the presence of police."
He said operators of such outlets would be charged under Section 4B(a) of the Common Gaming House Act 1953 and offenders were liable to be fined between RM10,000 and RM100,000 for each machine seized and also imprisonment not exceeding five years upon conviction.
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