SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Indonesia’s newly-introduced gambling task force is already rolling its sleeves with plans to ban all access to igaming platforms.
Hadi Tjahjanto, Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs, commented that suspicious bank accounts have been placed under surveillance to detect any potential online gambling transactions.
Under current legislation, all types of gambling are strictly prohibited for both local residents and foreigners living in or visiting Indonesia.
The task force’s igaming siege is being carried out with the monitoring support of officers (Babinsa) of the National Armed Forces (TNI), as well as security and public order personnel (Bhabinkamtibma) from the National Police Force (Polri).
“The task force will block access to overseas online gambling platforms, particularly by targeting network access providers,” Tjahjanto commented from Jakarta.
“The Bhabinkamtibmas and Babinsa are actively monitoring the trading of bank accounts used for online gambling, as well as mini-markets that sell credits for online gambling top-up.”
Indonesia’s Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK) will analyse all surveillance data, having already placed its sights on 4,000-to-5,000 bank accounts that are potentially linked with igaming.
The findings are then handed over to Polri’s Criminal Investigation Agency, which takes on the duty of identifying any names linked to these accounts and informing them of the suspicions against them.
A total of 30 days are given to anyone who wants to claim ownership of the accounts, with all available funds going into the national treasury if no one steps forward.
Tjahjanto headed the online gambling eradication task force when it was officially established by President Joko Widodo on 14 June.
However, the very first announcement of the new entity came earlier in April at a counter-igaming meeting hosted by Widodo.
