{"id":777021228,"date":"2024-12-03T16:14:57","date_gmt":"2024-12-03T19:14:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777021228"},"modified":"2026-04-22T03:36:03","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T06:36:03","slug":"indonesia-seeks-to-block-use-of-phone-credits-for-online-gambling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/indonesia-seeks-to-block-use-of-phone-credits-for-online-gambling","title":{"rendered":"Indonesia seeks to block use of phone credits for online gambling"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Authorities also plan to launch a mass SMS campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Indonesia.- Indonesia’s Ministry of Communications and Digital Affairs has met with the Financial Transactions Reporting and Analysis Center (PPATK) and mobile operators to discuss two potential actions against illegal online gambling<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Antara News, authorities outlined two planned measures, including a public awareness campaign to communicate that gambling can cause financial difficulties. The ministry plans to work with mobile phone operators<\/strong> to send targeted SMS messages. A technical team is working to finalise the content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second measure would focus on preventing people from paying for gambling via phone credits. Further technical meetings will be held to develop an implementation plan. Mobile operators attending the meeting expressed their willingness to support the move.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Danang Tri Hartono<\/strong>, deputy for analysis and investigation at the PPATK, says his office has collected data on people involved in online gambling and the financial flows involved. In the first nine months of 2024, transactions related to online gambling reportedly totalled Rp283tn (US$17.7bn).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hartono said the PPATK and the Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs are analysing the possibility of sending warnings to identified gamblers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

See also: <\/strong>Bank Indonesia freezes 7,500 bank accounts linked to online gambling<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indonesian minister pledges to find solution for treatment of gambling harm<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Muhaimin Iskandar<\/strong>, Indonesia\u2019s human development and cultural affairs minister,\u00a0has said he will work to find a solution for challenges faced by hospitals in managing the growing number of people with gambling-harm-related issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Antara News, Iskandar said hospitals were treating patients suffering from physical and psychological conditions linked to online gambling, but the national health insurer, BPJS Kesehatan, does not currently cover non-drug-related addictions. Iskandar said this gap had created financial strain for healthcare providers, as support for people with gambling-harm-related issues remains outside the insurer\u2019s remit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iskandar said the programme designed to assist people with gambling-harm-related issues has not been launched yet and expressed optimism that it would not increase the burden on BPJS Kesehatan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Authorities also plan to launch a mass SMS campaign.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":777009719,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Indonesia is intensifying its crackdown on illegal online gambling through multi-agency collaboration, including the Ministry of Communications and Digital Affairs, PPATK, and mobile operators. Measures encompass public awareness campaigns via SMS, blocking gambling payments made with phone credits, and leveraging financial intelligence on illicit transaction flows totaling US$17.7bn. Concurrently, the government is addressing the public health implications, with discussions on healthcare coverage for gambling-related harm, highlighting the growing societal impact of unregulated gaming.","focusai_entities":"Indonesia\u2019s Ministry of Communications and Digital Affairs, Financial Transactions Reporting and Analysis Center (PPATK), Antara News, Danang Tri Hartono, Bank Indonesia, Muhaimin Iskandar, BPJS Kesehatan","focusai_location":"Indonesia","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (0.9), operator_casino (0.7), tech_data (0.7), payments_fraud_aml (1.0), investor_analyst (0.9), journalist_researcher (1.0)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Impact on Mobile Operators","query":"What specific technical and compliance obligations will mobile operators face in implementing the proposed payment blocking and SMS campaign measures, and what is the projected timeline for these integrations?"},{"label":"Healthcare Funding Gap","query":"How does the Indonesian government plan to bridge the funding gap for treating gambling-harm-related issues, given BPJS Kesehatan's current exclusion of non-drug addictions, and what governance frameworks will oversee this new program?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[154,16333],"tags":[20326,4138],"class_list":["post-777021228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legislation-news","category-south-east-asia-news","tag-illegal-gambling","tag-online-gambling"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777021228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777021228"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777021228\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777021237,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777021228\/revisions\/777021237"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/777009719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777021228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777021228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777021228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}