Inspector-general of police Khalid Abu Bakar has urged the state governments and local authorities to cease issuing family entertainment licences.

He said this was because there were too many cases of operators abusing such licences to turn the family entertainment centres into gambling dens.

"What is the purpose of having family entertainment centres when it is filled with machines that are turned into gambling slot machines," he told a press conference after attending a gathering of senior officers of the state police contingent at the Bukit Beruang police headquarters in Malacca yesterday.

Khalid said it was unfair to blame only the police in the prevention of gambling activities when the local authorities issued the entertainment licences and had legal provisions to curb them.

- Bernama