Indonesian elementary school children are being bombarded with online gambling, the government has warned.
The comments came from Meutya Hafid, the Minister of Communication and Digital, the Indonesian media outlet Harian Disway reported.
Hafid said that, per government estimates, nearly 200,000 children in Indonesia have been exposed to online gambling. Of this total, 40% are under 10 years old, she added.
“We have heard several heartbreaking stories from members of the community,” the minister said. “[Gambling] doesn’t just involve financial losses; it also destroys children’s futures and family [bonds]. We must all work to stop this together.”
Hafid called on Indonesian mothers to “be the main bulwark at home.”
“Protect our children from the dangers of online gambling from an early age,” she urged. “Reject gambling, protect your family, and safeguard your children’s future.”
We Must Protect Indonesian Elementary School Children, Says Minister
Indonesian government agencies and law enforcement bodies continue to crack down on online casinos.
In recent years, the government has cut benefits to entire families where it has found a single member has gambled online.
Jakarta has also frozen hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of funds in over 30,000 citizens’ bank accounts.
The government uses an automated platform to comb commercial bank transaction data for evidence of casino deposits or withdrawals.
The purge has also resulted in scores of operators and punters being arrested, jailed, or subjected to corporal punishment.
A crackdown on Instagram-based female social influencers who use their pages to promote online casinos has seen courts jail several young women.
But online casino operators continue to target Indonesian users. The police say illegal sports betting is also expected to rise during this summer’s soccer World Cup.
A Complex Threat
Hafid said the government will continue to rise to the challenge. She said new digital literacy and public awareness campaigns will help fight the rise in illegal web-based gambling.
“We are not just blocking access to sites or taking them down,” said the minister. “The most important thing is to reach the wider community with our messaging, so that awareness grows within families and communities.”
Hafid added that the online gambling operators now pose a more complex threat.
Previously, she said, threats primarily involved the spread of hoaxes and cyber fraud. But online gambling has since “evolved into a social threat that impacts the behavior of society, even children,” she said.
The minister concluded: “Online gambling is a scam. The platform operators use a system that ensures that players almost always lose and fail in the long term.”
