Online Gambling In Indonesia
A recent discovery by the Financial Transaction Reports and Analytics Center (PPATK) found that the Online Gambling Industry in Indonesia has almost reached 200 Trillion Rupiahs in money circulation.
Gambling, in general, is when we make a bet to determine who would win in a contest. This commonly happens in a sport, where we make a wager and choose which team or person we support. If we win, we get the paycheck. If we lose, however, our wager would be gone.
Since the banning of gambling became law on 6th November 1974, named law №7 Year 1974 about gambling (UU №7 Tahun 1974 tentang perjudian), Indonesia officially bans any activity related to gambling. Despite the bill being passed by the parliament, the gambling business still exists today.
Gambling is one of the contributors to Indonesia’s money circulation
Article Main Source: Money Circulation in 2022 from Bank Indonesia (Indonesian Language), PPATK Findings from Tempo (Indonesian Language) and Online Gambling at Voi (English)
According to Bank Indonesia, the money circulation in Indonesia is 8.525 Trillion Rupiah in 2022. In a twist of event, however, Voi claims that nearly one percent of the money circulation comes from online gambling, with at least 81 Trillion Rupiah in 2022. Nearly one percent of money circulation comes from gambling in 2022.
Recent news from PPATK, however, discovered that in 2023, the gambling business circulation will reach 200 Trillion Rupiah. If using 2022 money circulation, it’s almost 2.5% of national money circulation. Although for common people, it is insignificant, for those aware of gambling’s participation, it’s a serious threat.
With such a large number contributing to Indonesia’s money circulation, the gambling business has put itself as one of the major contributors to Indonesia’s money circulation. The government has become overwhelmed by how online gambling has become popular, especially among low to middle-income citizens.
The government official website’s cybersecurity is vulnerable
On 6 September 2023, an Indonesian Parliament official YouTube account was seized by hackers and live-streamed a gambling event. This breach caused unrest in the government, witnessing the official account being taken and utilized by hackers to promote gambling.
Whenever the Ministry of Communications and Information (Menkominfo) attempts to take down one of the online gambling websites, they’ll also have a chance to risk taking down the official website. This shows how crafty the gambling developer and hacker are, as they managed to find a way to put a government website as a hostage to keep online gambling operated and “untouchable” by the ministry. By keeping access to the official website open, the gambling company can find another official website to infiltrate.
It’s also one of the warnings, as the Online Gambling industry found that Indonesian official’s websites were easy to breach. The hackers can slip the codes to “bind” the official websites with the gambling website, taking the official website as a host. Letting the gambling website breach the government shows how brittle Indonesia’s cybersecurity is.
Lack of Digital Literacy
There were differences between Game Online and Online Gambling, but digital readers somehow can’t compare both. Even though we’re in the Digital Era, we still need literacy to differentiate between Game Online and Online Gambling.
Influencers were sometimes unaware they were promoting Online Gambling instead of Game Online. Sometimes, Public Relations manages to deceive the influencer, but those who know the difference between Game Online and Online Gambling would not fall for it.
This shows that our digital literacy to determine the difference between Game Online and Online Gambling requires attention. What are the differences between Game Online and Online Gambling?
Game Online
Game Online is a game, and it can be played online. There were many types of gaming, such as MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game), MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena), FPS (First-Person Shooter), RTS (Real-Time Strategy), Simulation, etc. Game Online mainly does not include the element of gambling, or the element of gambling itself was one of the features, but not as a main feature unless it’s an event.
Game Online examples were Roblox, World of Warships, Dota 2, Halo Wars 2, Halo: Infinite, Dead by Daylight, Alien: Isolation, Azur Lane, and Ragnarok Online. They were connected through the Internet to play with other players. If they play a single-player, their progress would be saved through the Internet or local storage.
Game Online also has its excitement, as in most cases, players would come and enjoy their time, either hunting, doing quests, or perhaps doing a raid with other players. They may spend their money to get support items or a perk to assist them in achieving their goal.
These days, most Games Online are made as Freemium. Players can access the game without paying, but if they wish to get more privileges, they can pay to enjoy better perks.
Online Gambling
Gambling is where we spend our money to make a bet and cash out the rewards. In online gambling, some businesses offer a free service to give the customer a taste of gambling. Only when they want to play more that requires them to spend their money on it.
Online Gambling also works the same way, as it gives us more psychological effects than online games. It revolves around our desire to keep winning. As we taste the first big win, we want to spend more. Its psychological effect is so severe that we may not notice how much money we spend only to win the bet.
We can encounter many types of Gambling, which commonly range from Slot, Texas Hold’Em, Poker, Russian Roulette, and Blackjack. All of them have one thing in common, which is involves money. Some may try to find a loophole from the basics of gambling, which remains acceptable as long as it doesn’t allow us to cash out the rewards, such as Japanese Pachinko.
Online Gambling is not limited to the above, as it could also involve real-time sports. For example, during a soccer season, online gambling always opens for bets to let us choose the match winners, scores, or even season winners and those who were redelegated to the lower league.
According to SumSumber, Online Gambling circulates a total of at least US$ 155 billion during FIFA World Cup 2018. This shows that sports are also a business opportunity for a gambling company to expand its gambling business.
In conclusion, Game Online can be played for free and involve money to improve the player or enjoy more perks in-game, while Online Gambling involves money every time we make a bet.
What is the conclusion of this weekly article?
In conclusion, Online Gambling in Indonesia has become more aggressive day by day. The aggressiveness of gambling companies in Indonesia resurfaces our attention to the gambling world. Every year, the money circulation in the gambling industry in Indonesia continues to increase, further alarming the Indonesian government in maintaining the law about gambling.
In addition, the gambling company makes a bold move by utilizing government and official websites to promote their gambling website. This move was rarely seen in other countries, as it also shows that the Government’s cybersecurity in Indonesia is relatively easy to breach. The government’s slow reaction to take action and the relatively low cybersecurity defenses of the official website prompted the gambling company to utilize Indonesia’s official website as a host to promote their gambling.
Due to the lack of literacy, influencers often cannot make a difference between Game Online and Online Gambling when promoting a product. While Game Online were made for entertainment and education, mainly for free, Online Gambling was made for us to keep spending more money.
