Indonesia suspends welfare payments to 1.49 million households over suspected online gambling
The Indonesian government has temporarily suspended welfare payments to 1.49 million households suspected of engaging in online gambling.
Indonesia.- The Ministry of Social Affairs says it has temporarily suspended welfare payments to approximately 1.49 million beneficiary households over suspected online gambling activity, pending a nationwide verification process. The measure was taken based on data provided by the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK), which suggested that the number of flagged households had more than doubled from roughly 600,000 last year.
Saifullah Yusuf, Social Affairs minister, said the suspension does not automatically mean beneficiaries will lose their assistance. Instead, the government will first verify each case to determine whether recipients were involved in online gambling or whether the findings require further clarification. The review will examine whether some accounts may have been misused or incorrectly linked to gambling transactions before any permanent action is taken.
The minister stressed that state welfare programmes are intended to help low-income families meet essential living expenses, and that public funds should not be used for illegal gambling. Indonesia’s crackdown on illegal online gambling has expanded beyond website blocking to include financial monitoring, payment channel oversight and the freezing of bank accounts suspected of facilitating gambling transactions. Authorities recently reported the country’s first annual decline in online gambling transaction value since 2017.
PPATK says online gambling deposits in Indonesia exceeded IDR1tn (US$55.8m) during the 2026 FIFA World Cup between mid-June and mid-July. As part of its enforcement efforts, it froze activity on 2,815 accounts suspected of facilitating illegal gambling, which together held IDR325.43bn (US$18.2m).
PPATK recorded IDR22.05tn (US$1.23bn) in gambling deposits over the first six months of the year, a 26 per cent increase from a year earlier, while the number of deposits climbed 140 per cent to 226.76 million. The agency said the sharp increase in transaction volumes reflects not only gambling activity but also stronger transaction monitoring and more effective reporting by financial institutions.
It added that illegal operators have shifted towards processing numerous low-value payments rather than fewer large transfers, making suspicious activity harder to detect through conventional monitoring methods.
PPATK’s data showed that QRIS was the most frequently used payment channel for gambling deposits during the first half of the year. Transactions through the national QR payment system totalled IDR12.36tn (US$689.7m), accounting for 56.04 per cent of deposit value, while bank transfers and e-wallets contributed a combined IDR9.69tn (US$540.7m).
