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Read Full BioIndonesian police and financial regulators have launched a fresh assault on illegal online betting, freezing some $36.2 million of gambling-linked funds.
The Jakarta Globe quoted Ivan Yustiavandana, the head of the nation’s Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK), stating that officials have also frozen over 5,000 bank accounts.
Yustiavandana said that the PPATK initially froze the accounts in February, with the Indonesian National Police later following up with blocking orders.
Indonesian Gambling Crackdown Intensifies
The PPATK has spearheaded a government crackdown on online gambling, which began under Joko Widodo’s presidency. The former President’s second term ended in 2024, but his successor, Prabowo Subianto, appears equally keen on wiping out illegal gambling in Indonesia.
The media outlet wrote that Subianto’s government has since “intensified” the nationwide anti-gambling drive.
It noted that officials have told domestic internet providers to block access to scores of gambling-related websites. They have also restricted thousands of IP addresses and ordered social media post takedowns.
The government says it has removed or blocked access to 900,000 gambling-related pages and posts in total since Subianto took office in October 2024.
Jakarta has ordered the PPATK to monitor banking platforms for potentially suspicious transactions that may be linked to gambling sites.
Yustiavandana said of the crackdown: “The core objective of this law enforcement initiative is to protect the public from the social harms of online gambling, which often drives victims to drug trafficking, online fraud, and even prostitution in order to sustain their addiction. It can also lead to the breakdown of families.”
Scammers Forcing Indonesians into Gambling Industry, Jakarta Claims
There are, however, signs that the crackdown is forcing many Indonesian gambling operators abroad.
The Indonesian Foreign Affairs Ministry claims that, despite tighter enforcement protocols, it has observed a rise in the number of citizens “voluntarily entering the online gambling industry abroad, especially in Cambodia.”
The agency says that scammers and human trafficking rings are duping Indonesians into working for gambling operations.
Jakarta says that over 5,000 Indonesians have been rescued from international cybercrime syndicates since 2020. Officials claim the syndicates mainly operate in Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam.
Yustiavandana explained that fraudsters and gambling operators dupe victims with bogus job offers that involve working abroad.
Instead, these workers “end up in conditions resembling forced labor, with little to no compensation,” the news outlet wrote.
In April, the Migrant Worker Protection Minister, Abdul Kadir Karding, warned the public to exercise extreme caution when responding to job offers from other Southeast Asian nations. The minister warned that many cases of human trafficking have been reported in countries that do not have formal migrant worker placement agreements with Indonesia.
More Southeast Asian Nations Taking Action
The news comes as other Southeast Asian nations continue their struggles with gambling regulation and betting-related crime.
In Thailand, politicians have claimed that a controversial government-led attempt to legalize gambling in designated entertainment complexes could cause the collapse of the ruling coalition.
Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra says the bill will help boost year-round tourism-related revenues. However, critics do not want Thailand to develop a legal casino sector.
