Indonesia Blocks 3.8M Online Gambling Sites in 14 Months

After its government announced it would take decisive action against digital payment service providers engaging with online gambling operators as a means to fight off black market sites, Indonesia has reached a new milestone in its endeavor. 

The country in Southeast Asia has announced that it managed to successfully block 3,796,902 online gambling platforms between July 17, 2023, and October 9, 2024. 

The massive shutdown recorded across roughly 14 months is part of the country’s ongoing efforts to tackle illegal online activities. 

Online Gambling, “a Serious Threat in Indonesia”

In a statement, the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (KOMINFO) also announced they have been targeting over 31,751 gambling-related links on educational platforms and another 31,812 links on government websites. 

Moreover, at least 21,000 keywords related to gambling were reported to Google and another 5,793 to Meta. 

At the end of August, during a speech at the Forum Merdeka Barat 9, Teguh Arifiyadi, Director of Informatics Application Control at Kominfo called online gambling “a serious threat in Indonesia, with transaction values reaching nearly Rp400 trillion ($255 million) and the number of players surging to three million.”

Arifiyadi also commented that the Indonesian government was determined to continue its fight against online gambling, and the impressive numbers of blocked sites over the past year make a strong statement. 

KOMINFO’s ministry, Budi Arie Setiadi explained the blocking was part of their continuous cyber patrols while mentioning the need to “protect vulnerable groups, especially young people, from the dangers of online gambling.”

Almost 7,600 Blocked Bank Accounts 

Setiadi also collaborated with Bank Indonesia and took action against 573 e-wallet accounts that had ties with online gambling activities. 

Similarly, the ministry asked the Financial Services Authority to block 7,599 bank accounts with similar links. 

The important crackdown followed serious concerns regarding the social impact of gambling, including a disturbing report of a 36-year-old father in East Jakarta who allegedly sold his 11-month-old child for roughly 5 million rupiah ($955) to purchase two mobile phones, one for daily use and online to support his online gambling. 

In June, Indonesia’s president announced the country would step up its crackdown on online gambling amid a number of gruesome murder cases connected to the activity.

In March, Indonesia asked social platform X to stop promoting unlicensed gambling to its residents.

According to the Financial Transaction Reporting and Analysis Center, online gambling transactions in Indonesia reached 100 trillion rupiah ($6.4 billion) in Q1 2024.