Most Online Casino Players are University or High School Students, Say Indonesian Police

Indonesian online casino players are mostly university and high school students, police in the country have claimed.

The comments came from the chief of the national police force (Polri), General Listyo Sigit Prabowo, the Indonesian media outlet Detik News reported.

Speaking at a police training center in Bogor, West Java, Sigit said on February 12 that online gambling is a serious problem despite a recent crackdown.

“Technological developments have an impact on crime, and one of the most prevalent examples of this is online gambling,” Sigit said.

The police chief said gambling is “a shared challenge for the entire nation.”

“Most online casino players are students,” he said. “The next biggest group is ordinary employees, followed by [small] business owners.”

Indonesian Online Casino Addiction: Youth in Danger

The police chief said the country needed to work together to fight youth gambling addiction.

“Many children under 18 are engaging with online gambling,” Sigit said. “This is certainly a concern for us all. And we need to be able to combat it.”

Only collaborative efforts to wipe out gambling will help reverse the problem, the police chief claimed. He called on schools and government bodies to help the police fight youth gambling addiction.

“We have instructed all [our units] to collaborate with ministries and public institutions, including the Ministry of Communication and Information,” he explained. “We must all provide education to help reduce the number of online gambling cases we are seeing.”

Prosecutors say they are also stepping up anti-gambling campaigns. The Indonesian media outlet Tribun News reported that public prosecution officials in Central Aceh have begun visiting high schools in the region to inform students about the dangers of online casinos.

Visiting online casinos is a criminal offence in Indonesia. Habitual gamblers can face lengthy prison sentences, fines, and even corporal punishment.

Confidence in Online Gambling Crackdown Low – Survey

Despite the police’s efforts, a recent survey of 1,700 Indonesians found that just under 7% of respondents expressed high confidence in Polri’s ability to eradicate online gambling.

Over a third of respondents, by contrast, said they had limited confidence in Polri’s ability to succeed. And almost 21% said they had no “confidence at all” in the police’s handling of online gambling.

Earlier this month, the Financial Services Authority (OJK), Indonesia’s anti-money laundering agency, said it had blocked a further 5,000 bank accounts linked to online gambling.

The OJK said the account owners used these accounts to deposit or withdraw funds on online casino platforms.

To date, the agency says it has blocked over 32,000 accounts and seized more than $36 million.