An Indonesian academic has proposed legalising casinos exclusively for foreign nationals in special economic zones, citing potential economic benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Indonesia.- A professor from STIE Ekuitas has suggested that Indonesia should legalise casinos for foreign nationals in locations such as Batam or Bali. Speaking during a public discussion in Bekasi, West Java, Vidya Ramadhan <\/strong>suggested the country adopt regulatory frameworks similar to those in countries such as the United Arab Emirates and Malaysia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As reported by ANTARA News, he said: “When viewed from an economic aspect, it cannot be denied that this activity has a positive impact in the short term, but it needs to be regulated so that it does not harm the community.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Legally, he suggested such a move might be possible if the venues were located in special economic zones. Ramadhan said implementation would have to avoid affecting the domestic population’s spending power and ensure clear revenue collection mechanisms. <\/p>\n\n\n\n International relations expert Hikmahanto Juwana<\/strong> has also voiced support for regulated land-based casinos under strict government control and member of parliament Galih Kartasasmita<\/strong> recently questioned how an Islamic country like United Arab Emirates could explore casino operations while Indonesia wasn’t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Earlier this week, the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK) announced that more than 28,000 bank accounts<\/a> in Indonesia were frozen by police in 2024 due to alleged links with online gambling. Director Ivan Yustiavandana <\/strong>said many were part of a scheme involving the buying and selling of accounts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He said the accounts, some of which had previously been dormant, were frequently used to deposit funds for illegal gambling as well as to launder money from other criminal activities, such as fraud and drug trafficking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In September 2023, the United Arab Emirates\u2019\u00a0General Commercial Gaming Regulatory Authority<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>(GCGRA) was established to regulate lotteries, internet gaming, sports wagering, and land-based gaming. In July 2024, it granted its first casino licence to Wynn Resorts for\u00a0Wynn Al Marjan Island<\/a>\u00a0in Ras Al Khaimah. MGM Resorts has also applied for a casino licence. In April of this year, the regulator issued\u00a0vendor licences to\u00a0Novomatic\u00a0and\u00a0EQL Games<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" An Indonesian academic has proposed legalising casinos exclusively for foreign nationals in special economic zones, citing potential economic benefits.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":777018832,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"An Indonesian academic proposes legalizing land-based casinos exclusively for foreign nationals within special economic zones, citing potential economic benefits and suggesting regulatory frameworks akin to the UAE. This initiative emerges amidst Indonesia's significant crackdown on illegal online gambling and money laundering, highlighting a potential shift in policy discourse regarding regulated gaming.","focusai_entities":"STIE Ekuitas, Vidya Ramadhan, ANTARA News, Hikmahanto Juwana, Galih Kartasasmita, Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK), Ivan Yustiavandana, General Commercial Gaming Regulatory Authority (GCGRA), Wynn Resorts, MGM Resorts, Novomatic, EQL Games","focusai_location":"Indonesia, Batam, Bali, Bekasi, West Java, United Arab Emirates, Ras Al Khaimah, Malaysia","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (0.95), compliance_legal (0.9), operator_casino (0.9), payments_fraud_aml (0.9), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.8), journalist_researcher (0.95)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Regulatory Framework Comparison","query":"What specific elements of the UAE's GCGRA regulatory framework are most pertinent for Indonesia to consider in establishing its own governance model for special economic zone casinos, particularly regarding licensing tiers and compliance oversight?"},{"label":"Economic Impact Projections","query":"Given Indonesia's current crackdown on illegal online gambling, what are the projected GGR and NGR contributions from a regulated land-based casino sector targeting foreign nationals in special economic zones, and how would these mitigate existing illicit financial flows?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[24628,154,158,16333],"tags":[29,225,4138],"class_list":["post-777026774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-highlight-of-the-week","category-legislation-news","category-slider-home","category-south-east-asia-news","tag-casino","tag-legislation","tag-online-gambling"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777026774","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=777026774"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777026774\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777026779,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777026774\/revisions\/777026779"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/777018832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777026774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777026774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777026774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Gambling in the United Arab Emirates<\/h2>\n\n\n\n