Online Gambling In Indonesia: Need Press Emergency Button?

Illustration of Images made by Ilham and Andri Winarko (VOI)

JAKARTA "Talking about gambling in Indonesia seems to never end. When conventional gambling such as cockfighting, dice, card and lottery can still be found in the country, now in the digital era there is a slot game that is commonly called online gambling.

Online gambling isn't really new. Online gambling started in 1994, by that time many platforms were available for online gambling, one of which was the stripy site. Online gambling began at the time of Barbuda and Antigua passed the Free Trade and Processing Act. This action allows organizations to get licenses for their online casinos.

Furthermore, microgaming developed its first functional software before the introduction of online gambling, which is a company based on the Issue of Man to develop software.

They used CryptoLogic for the safety of their software and online companies. After the formation of the Kahnawake Game Commission in 1996, online gambling activities were regulated from the Kahnawake Mohawk Region. The area issued several game licenses for taxi rooms and online casinos. Through this effort, they maintain transparency in online gambling business operations.

Internet Gambling ban was introduced in 1999. This action states that companies are not responsible for offering online gambling products to citizens of the United States.

This action is non-permissible, and another online multiplayer gambling law was introduced the same year. Playtech was the first direct dealer for Kasino in 2003. They introduced hybrids from the virtual world and brick and mortar Kasino.

The development of online gambling cannot be separated from gadgets, especially in people in the modern era which is spoiled with technological sophistication. The ease of society having gadgets becomes a gap in the development of online gambling in the world.

Devices are a means to make it easier for people to make online gambling transactions. With one hand on a device, online gambling activities continue to run even up to 24 hours. The Covid-19 pandemic, which almost made all activities carried out online, has even more fertile online gambling in the community.

Adam (not his real name) revealed that there was no money left in the savings after almost a year of playing online gambling. This 29-year-old man admits that he has known online gambling since 2018 from his friend.

"Iseng, because my friend won, got one motorbike. Because I was tempted, I then asked, what did I play? I was told the site, I registered. At that time I didn't play often, I was still relaxed," he said while talking to VOI, Sunday, October 8.

He also confirmed the assumption that online gambling suddenly became popular when the Covid-19 pandemic hit Indonesia. In addition to everything done online, Adam is interested in trying out slot games because it is easy to understand. He said online slot gambling is very simple and easy to play. To play, simply press the spin button on the machine displayed on the phone screen.

The machine will then rotate and stir up various shapes of icons or images so that it is not known exactly what image appears. If a spinning machine stops, there are eight identical images and forms a certain pattern, automatically wins.

He said, initially the money from winning online lottery gambling was IDR 500,000, and it was immediately at stake for slot gambling. Overnight playing, Adam admitted to winning IDR 7 million. I feel good, I've never won that big," he said.

It was this big win that made Adam addicted. In a day he admitted that he could play online slots up to five times by spending almost Rp. 500,000. Unfortunately, it was not the victory he got.

"Winning is rare and never as big as the first win. At most it can be Rp. 300,000, Rp. 200,000, sometimes Rp. 1 million. If it is estimated that 70 percent will lose, 30 percent will win," he added.

Even though he lost many times, Adam did not lose until his savings were sold out for gambling. He admitted that psychologically he felt that when he lost, he had to return his capital by gambling again.

Wawan also felt online gambling addiction (not his real name). This 35-year-old man even admitted that he did not know the time when he played online slot gambling. "Build a bed that opens slots, eat while playing slots, take a walk with my friend and even play slots, because it's enough to use a device online, right," he said.

Like Adam, Wawan also knows online gambling from his friends who often show off money from winning gambling. The implementation of PPKM during the pandemic was admitted to have made him almost no activities. Wawan chose online slot gambling because it was considered easier than MONEY or the like that needed a strategy.

At first playing slot gambling, he only installed Rp. 10,000. Unexpectedly, Wawan could earn up to Rp. 17 million. That's the first time I played. It didn't feel like it was happy at that time, but I'm not sure if it was true. So I waited, it was disbursed or not so sure. After five days, the money went into my account. Just then continue to play for six months," he added.

For six months, Wawan gambled from the money from his first win. It's time to finish staring at the phone screen to try out his luck. "I tried to try if I played around the clock or not. I tried to play midnight, dawn, morning, basically almost all day my life was just playing slots," he said.

Wawan admitted that he was curious and wanted to win again, making him unable to escape from gambling. This addiction also made him reluctant to leave the house even though the PPKM rules were getting loose. He prefers to be in the room playing gambling.

His consciousness began to emerge when Wawan got together with his friends. At that time, he admitted that he was reprimanded by his friend for still playing slots. "Reprimanded by friends, he said my brain was damaged. After feeling bad, I stopped slowly," he said.

After the Covid-19 pandemic passed, the temptation of playing online gambling did not stop. Moreover, online gambling organizers have their own strategy to attract people to continue playing gambling. One of them uses the services of artists or public figures to promote their stalls.

This strategy was revealed on Monday, September 4, the Indonesian Muslim Lawyers Association (ALMI) reported at least 26 public figures to the Criminal Investigation Unit of the National Police on suspicion of promoting online or online gambling through content on social media. This was followed up by the Directorate of Cyber Crime (Dittipidsiber) of the National Police Criminal Investigation Unit by calling artists and influencers.

As of October 2, several celebrities or artists were recorded, ranging from Wulan Guritno, Yuki Kato, Cupi Cupita, to the last one Amanda Manopo fulfilled the summons of Bareskrim investigators. To reporters after the examination, they issued a similar confession, not knowing what they were promoting was online gambling.

Wulan Guritno gave an example. Although reluctant to reveal the examination material, he said he was relieved after giving a statement on September 14, and emphasized that the information he gave was clarification.

The next artist is Yuki Kato who underwent an examination on Saturday, September 23. In line with Wulan, Yuki did not explain what information she gave to investigators. The dangdut Cupi Cupita singer, through her lawyer, admitted that she did not know that the online game she was promoting on social media was online gambling.

Cupi promotes online gambling in 2020 with an honorarium of less than IDR 10 million. In online gambling advertisements on social media, it appears that Cupi Cupita is promoting two online gambling websites that are camouflaged as online games, namely Lumbung88 and Sakti123. The Sakti123 website was also promoted by artists Wulan Guritno and a number of celebrities.

The soap opera artist Amanda Manopo, who finished undergoing an examination at the Police Criminal Investigation Unit, Monday, October 1 night, also admitted that she was promoting online games. He admitted that he did not know about online gambling. He also admitted that he had never played online games that he promoted.

Social observer from the University of Indonesia, Devie Rahmawati, believes that online gambling addiction among the public can be said to be in an emergency situation. The Covid-19 pandemic that has destroyed many family economies is the main factor in why many people have been trapped in online gambling until now.

According to him, at that time online gambling seemed to provide alternative ways for people who wanted to get additional income. The next factor is saturation. When government regulations related to Covid are enforced, many people feel confined at home and eventually bored.

Online gambling is wrapped like a regular game, teasing people to try because it can be accessed anytime and anywhere. Humans are in principle gamers. Interestingly online gambling is their captivities through the game. This then encourages people without realizing it to be trapped in online gambling. In the end they are addicted. Online gambling creates fun, making people challenged, motivated, and curious," he explained.

In addition, people also don't need to spend a lot of money trying their luck online gambling. Only with tens of thousands of rupiah allowing them to get tens of millions. Therefore, no one is immune from the potential online gambling trap, either from economic groups or under or higher education.

Devie emphasized that online gambling is a serious problem that must be a concern of the government. Because in certain stages, people who are addicted to online gambling can act to the detriment of others. He considered that it needed more than just legal handling to overcome online gambling problems.

If you are addicted to alcohol or drugs, how to escape by separating the object from yourself. But what if it is in your head? It is very difficult to remove the image from your head so that it is free from addiction. There people like to assume that online gambling is not dangerous. Even though this is crucial because it sticks to your mind, "he explained.

Devie gave an example of a criminal case involving youth in Situbondo stealing their parents' cows because they were in debt due to online gambling. Or the case of an officer handling Public Infrastructure and Facilities (PPSU) in Mangga Dua Selatan Village, Jakarta, who made a false report of being a victim of robbery to the police for fear of being scolded by his wife because THR money amounting to Rp4.4 million was used for online gambling.

These two cases are examples of online gambling addiction which leads to criminal acts. In developed countries such as Europe, the local government provides psychological assistance for online gambling addicts or online games. Maybe this should also be done by the Indonesian government," concluded Devie.