Indonesia's Major Crackdown: 3.7 Million Gambling Sites Blocked

Indonesia has blocked 3.7 million online gambling sites in its ongoing battle against illegal activities, as well as related online content linked to alleged illegal gambling since October 2024, according to a Tuesday statement by Meutya Hafid, the country’s Minister of Communications and Digital Affairs.

“During that period, the ministry took down 3.7 million websites and pieces of content,” she said in a statement after attending a banking forum in the capital, Jakarta, as reported by the country’s official news agency, ANTARA.

Government's aggressive campaign against illegal online betting

The minister added that 156,000 suspected online gambling accounts had been flagged through an online reporting platform, with support from members of the public.

The ministry has also received reports involving 85,500 mobile phone numbers suspected of being used in what the news agency reported as “fraudulent activities”. Efforts against alleged illegal gambling had already been reported in late 2024.

On Tuesday, Ms Hafid said combatting online gambling required close coordination between her ministry, government agencies, financial regulators, banks, and the country’s Financial Services Authority.

“We are shifting from reactive takedowns to pattern-based anomaly detection while accelerating data sharing through integrated systems, including faster transfers” from the online reporting platform to “mobile identity authorities,” she was quoted saying.

Thousands of Bank Accounts and Phone Lines Shuttered

In addition to blocking online gambling content, the ministry has reported circa 38,000 bank accounts suspected of being linked to online gambling.

“We have reported about 38,000 bank accounts to the [Financial Services Authority], and 32,500 have been closed,” she stated.

The minister added that she hoped that further identified suspect accounts could be closed “with continued support from the banking industry”.