Number of ‘Gambling-Linked’ Bank Accounts Frozen by Indonesian State Nears 30K Mark

Indonesian financial regulators have frozen almost 30,000 “gambling-linked” bank accounts so far as part of a crackdown on citizens suspected of using online casino platforms.

The Indonesian media outlet InfoBank News reported that the Financial Services Authority (OJK) has so far successfully blocked 29,906 accounts with links to online casinos.

This marks a 2,511 rise from figures it released last month. It also points to a sharp month-on-month acceleration in the number of bank accounts the regulator has frozen.

Dian Ediana Rae, the regulator’s Chief Executive of Banking Supervision, said the blocks are part of Jakarta’s effort to “eradicate” online gambling.

Speaking at a press conference on November 7, the official claimed that online casino usage has already left a “wide impact on the economy and the financial sector.”

‘Gambling-Linked’ Bank Accounts: Crackdown Intensifies

Critics have previously hit out at the OJK’s methods. But the regulator says its system is designed to match online casino deposit payments with domestic bank accounts.

The platform also uses ID verification methods to verify bank account holders’ National Identity Numbers (NIKs). It then uses enhanced due diligence (EDD) checks to ensure its data is correct, the OKJ says.

The Indonesian banking sector typically uses EDD checks on customers flagged as “high-risk.” The OKJ has previously ordered banks to also use EDD to monitor transactions they suspect of links to money laundering, the financing of terrorism, sanction violations, or corruption.

EDD protocols require banks to conduct source-of-funds analysis checks, contact customers to ask them about suspicious transactions, and conduct extensive background checks. Banks must then report their findings to the OJK.

Forcing banks and e-pay providers to apply these same protocols to online casino-related transactions appears to be bearing fruit for Jakarta’s anti-gambling drive.

‘Total War’ on Online Casinos

The regulator has stepped up its policing of the online casino sector in recent months after the government declared “total war” on web-based gambling.

In October, the OJK said that it had blocked 1,483 accounts in the span of just two months. In August, the regulator said it had blocked a total of 25,912 online casino-linked bank accounts.

A parallel campaign from the country’s anti-money laundering unit, the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK), is targeting welfare recipients who use online casinos.

The PPATK uses an automated transaction monitoring platform to detect online casino-related transfers. When it identifies these as coming from welfare recipients, the platform automatically orders local authorities to halt benefit payments.

The PPATK’s system has resulted in hundreds of thousands of households losing their benefits, in many cases permanently.

At the APEC Summit in South Korea last month, Indonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto said that the nation’s annual online gambling-related losses now amount to about $8 billion.