Prabowo Subianto, the new president of Indonesia, has intensified his commitment towards eliminating online gambling. Indonesia, one of the largest Muslim countries, is making every effort to stop online gambling. To combat this illegal activity, the newly appointed lawmakers are utilising artificial intelligence to detect and block providers.
Indonesia’s government efforts to combat gambling
The newly appointed Minister of Communication and Digital Affairs, Meutya Hafid, announced a 100-day agenda outlining four primary goals: safeguarding personal data, digitising government services, eradicating online gambling, and creating a more child-friendly internet. She assured that the government is taking every possible step to stop it. She informed that the number of closed sites is increasing, and they are also trying to stop Meta ads.
She said, “If we count from 20 October, the number of closed sites has reached around 380K. 300,000 illegal IP addresses and thousands of ads on internet platforms like Meta, Google, and Twitter.
She further explained that the government is using special techniques to stop online gambling.
“The government has also enlisted special cyber-patrols to detect sites and applications that contain gambling content,” she added.
The Community Empowerment Minister of Indonesia, Muhaimin Iskandar, called online gambling a social disaster. He noted that the government is taking every step to stop this illegal activity in the country. The government is also monitoring the digital scrutiny of financial transactions and educating society about the harmful effects of gambling.
Iskandar said, “We must educate the community that this fraud must be eliminated. The grassroots community, especially, should not be deceived by this practice.”
Education Minister Satryo Soemantri Brodjonegoro stated that approximately 960,000 online gamblers in the country are high school and college students, with an estimated 80,000 online gamblers are under 10 in Indonesia.
Online gambling: A nationwide concern in Indonesia
Although gambling, whether online or offline, is banned in Indonesia, reports indicate that gamblers from the country spent RP327 trillion in 2023, which is approximately 1.5 percent of the annual gross domestic product. Another report by the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center showed that in 2024, online gambling generated RP283 trillion, of which RP43 trillion were deposits. The major concern for the government is that most of this money flows out of the country. Therefore, the government is trying to detect bank accounts involved in illegal activities.
The Deputy Governor of Bank Indonesia conveyed an important message to every payment service provider, emphasising the need for fraud detection systems to identify accounts used for illegal activities.
Juda Agung stated, “Payment service providers, both banks and non-banks, must have fraud detection systems to identify accounts used for online gambling.”
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