Indonesia pushed to toughen igaming crackdown

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2025/05/19: Indonesia blocks over 28,000 accounts in online gambling crackdown 2025/11/06: Minister says Indonesia’s online gambling crackdown remains ineffective 2025/01/22: Virginia online casino bill pushed to 2026 2025/07/11: Indonesia blocks more than 17,000 bank accounts linked to igaming

The Backstory

Momentum builds behind a tougher stance

Indonesia’s latest push to tighten its online gambling crackdown follows a year of rapid enforcement actions, growing political pressure and shifting transaction patterns that suggest operators are adapting faster than authorities can contain them. The call to intensify efforts comes as officials weigh whether a steady stream of platform takedowns and account freezes is curbing the problem or merely rerouting money through new channels.

Senior ministers have signaled that headline-grabbing blocks have not yet neutralized the funding networks behind illegal sites. In late-year remarks at the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center in Jakarta, the minister overseeing legal and immigration affairs said the campaign had not disrupted core financial flows that keep offshore operations running. He argued that the focus must expand from platforms to the money trails that feed them, with a heavier dose of anti-money laundering tactics and cross-border cooperation. Those comments, reported in a detailed brief on the government’s evolving strategy, underscored how enforcement priorities are shifting from visibility to durability of impact. For context, see the government critique that its efforts remain “not optimal” in the minister’s assessment of an ineffective crackdown.

Separately, Indonesia’s public news agency has chronicled calls from lawmakers and civil society for a deeper attack on network organizers and promoters, not just the front-end sites. Antara highlighted the push to “intensify the fight against online gambling networks,” reflecting concern that sporadic blocks do little against coordinated syndicates. That argument is captured in Antara’s report pressing for a broader fight against gambling networks.

Money flows shrink, but the threat evolves

Authorities say transaction volumes tied to online gambling have fallen sharply from last year’s peak, a data point that supports the government’s claim that pressure is working. Financial intelligence officials reported that turnover dropped from 2024’s high to a lower tally through October 2025, alongside a slide in deposit activity. Yet those figures come with a caveat: officials also warned that online gambling has matured into transnational organized crime, with offshore operators fragmenting payments to avoid detection and shifting to harder-to-trace accounts.

That tension runs through the government’s own messaging. On one hand, lower volumes suggest raids, blocks and freezes are slowing the flow. On the other, the minister’s critique and police intelligence point to sophisticated networks that disperse transactions and rebrand as tech or marketing firms to recruit users. The dual narrative—progress in headline numbers, lingering risk under the surface—frames why policymakers are now emphasizing financial forensics, asset seizures and cooperation with foreign counterparts to sustain any downturn in gambling liquidity. The need to follow the money is a central theme in the government’s plan to apply anti-money laundering mechanisms.

Banks and watchdogs tighten the screws

Indonesia’s financial supervisors have pivoted from warnings to directives, instructing banks to harden defenses against account misuse. In midyear guidance, the Financial Services Authority told lenders to freeze accounts tied to suspected gambling flows, step up monitoring of dormant profiles often repurposed for mule activity, and report unusual movements to financial intelligence units. The expanding toolkit includes cyber patrols to spot unauthorized use of bank brands and a rapid-response task force for incidents. These steps were detailed in a report on freezing more than 17,000 bank accounts linked to igaming and were echoed in Antara’s account of the order to block 17,026 gambling-linked accounts.

Financial intelligence officials have gone further with mass suspensions designed to disrupt laundering rings that buy, sell and recycle bank accounts. A nationwide sweep blocked more than 28,000 accounts believed to support illegal gambling transactions, many classified as dormant or controlled by third parties. The move sparked backlash from some customers who found their accounts frozen, prompting regulators to clarify that reactivation would be available after verification and that funds in suspect accounts do not belong to legitimate users. The approach reflects a tradeoff: aggressive freezes introduce friction and inconvenience but aim to break the backbone of mule networks. The breadth of the operation is laid out in the PPATK action blocking over 28,000 accounts.

Police move upstream to networks and operators

Law enforcement has paired financial blocks with offensive operations against criminal organizers. Since November, a national task force led by the police chief has opened more than a thousand cases, designated over a thousand suspects and seized or frozen assets across hundreds of accounts. Investigators say Chinese-linked syndicates feature prominently, with tactics that disguise gambling operations as IT or marketing ventures and distribute low entry points to pull in a broad base of players. Officials argue that the combination of arrests, asset seizures and account confiscations is starting to pressure supply chains behind the sites. The operational footprint is summarized in the task force closing more than 1,200 cases.

The shift upstream is designed to outlast whack-a-mole website blocks. By targeting organizers, facilitators and payment nodes, authorities aim to raise the cost of doing business for offshore groups and fragment their logistics. Whether that strategy holds will depend on how quickly investigators can trace funds across borders and how consistently agencies share intelligence with partners in the region.

What’s at stake for consumers and the economy

Officials warn that illegal gambling can destabilize households and erode savings, especially among lower-income participants who are most sensitive to losses. Financial regulators also point to systemic risks if account trading and mule networks proliferate inside the banking system. That is why guidance to close unused accounts, guard personal data and report suspicious movements has become a constant refrain in public advisories, and why education now sits alongside enforcement in the policy mix.

The government’s next phase hinges on execution. If anti-money laundering tools and interagency coordination keep compressing transaction volumes, the market could shrink further. If not, operators may continue to pivot through dormants, e-wallets and cross-border channels that outpace domestic controls. The stakes are clear in the government’s own ledger: falling volumes suggest pressure works, but the persistence of sophisticated networks argues the job is far from done. For a view into the scale and tactics driving the latest measures, see the combination of policy recalibration toward financial networks, sweeping account freezes and criminal prosecutions by the task force now shaping Indonesia’s crackdown.