INDONESIA online gambling emergency. This is the warning conveyed by the Minister of Communication and Information, Budi Arie Setiadi. Minister Budi also invited all parties and elements of society to work together to eradicate online gambling.
“We have an emergency for online gambling. All parties and elements of society must work together to eradicate online gambling. Many of our children are victims. “We must save Indonesia’s young generation from this haram practice,” said Minister Budi, quoted from a press release entitled Appreciation of the Police’s Quick Steps, Minister of Communication and Information: We’re in an Emergency So We’re Online, uploaded on the Kominfo website.
Minister Budi said that promotion of online gambling was carried out openly on social media. According to Minister Budi, perpetrators who promote online gambling are increasingly bold and outspoken. In fact, the perpetrators dragged a number of artists, celebrities and influencers to promote online gambling.
Some of the names of artists questioned by Bareskrim Polri regarding online gambling cases are Yuki Kato, Wulan Guritno, and Amanda Manopo. They were reported by the Indonesian Muslim Lawyers Association (ALMI) for allegedly endorsing online gambling between 2017 and 2023. They allegedly received a service fee of at least IDR 10 million.
In the article entitled Police Investigate Amanda Manopo Regarding Online Gambling Promotion throughout 2023, the National Police Criminal Investigation Directorate’s Cyber Crime Directorate revealed 77 cases of online gambling. A total of 130 people were named as suspects.
Meanwhile, data from the EMP Pusiknas Bareskrim Polri which was accessed on Monday, September 9 2023, shows that the police took action against 9,790 gambling cases from January 2021 to September 2023. In 2021, the Police took action against 3,141 cases. This number will increase in 2022, namely 4,119 cases. Meanwhile, during 9 months in 2023, the National Police took action against 2,530 cases or reached 61.4 percent of the number of actions taken in 2022.
The East Java Regional Police is the work unit with the highest number of cases prosecuted in less than two years, namely 2,102 cases. North Sumatra Regional Police is in second place with 1,168 cases and Central Java Regional Police with 682 cases.
Smartphones and tens of thousands of money are the initial capital to try your luck playing online gambling. Initially, the intention of playing was only to get rid of boredom and replace lost income due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. Apparently, the players were even trapped. The addiction starts to feel. Debts are piling up. The players even have the potential to commit criminal acts.
Dion, not his real name, shared his experience of trying his luck in online gambling. He admitted that he was tempted because a friend won a motorbike while playing. He also got the site information.
He also gambled on that site. As time went on, he became more addicted. Like a game, there are times when Dion wins. There are times when he loses. Even though he lost many times, he didn’t stop.
Unexpectedly, Dion used his savings and severance pay due to his layoff to gamble. He even pawned the car’s BPKB to get a loan. Again, the borrowed money is used for gambling. Because he couldn’t pay the loan, he sold his car.
“Winning doesn’t feel like it, but losing does,” said Dion, quoted from an article entitled Online Gambling is Rampant in Indonesia, A Number of People are Addicted, Their Savings Are Running Out, My Car.
Gambling, offline or online, is indeed disturbing. The government and authorities continue to eradicate this game of fate in all regions in Indonesia. However, the struggle to eradicate online gambling requires enormous efforts.
From 2018 to July 2023, the Ministry of Communication and Information closed 846,047 online gambling content. Online gambling sites and applications are blocked. In fact, banking account numbers used by online gambling sites were also frozen. The aim is to narrow the space for online gambling syndicates in Indonesia.
Director General of Applications and Information at the Ministry of Communication and Information, Semuel Abrijani Pangerapan, said it would take a maximum of 1 x 24 hours to block online gambling sites and applications. Because, Kominfo has to collect a number of pieces of evidence.
“But it can also be blocked for 2 hours, 3 hours, immediately if the evidence is sufficient,” said Semuel, quoted from an article entitled Kominfo Only Needs 1×24 Hours to Investigate and Block Online Gambling.
Kominfo also reports online gambling content promoted on social media to law enforcement. Thus, the promoter or bookie as well as the people involved in the promotion have the potential to be arrested by the police and face the law.
