Indonesia is home to over 270 million people and many more come and go every year as tourists. Despite the heavy number of visitors and locals, the Indonesian government has been adamant about prohibiting any sort of gambling activities but there are certain liberations, both legal and illegal. Keep reading to learn about lottery gambling in Indonesia
What does the law say?
According to the Indonesian law which is the Sharia law, any sort of gambling and betting activities other than the government allowed free lotteries are strictly prohibited and can bring legal action against the guilty. The restriction came in place from a moral perspective, since the majority of Indonesians are Muslims and in Islam, betting or gambling in a lottery or even table games is a vice.
Why banning gambling is not a good option
Yes, gambling is certainly not the most pious source of revenue for a country but its popularity has seemingly increased in recent years, and according to research by PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers), the Asian gambling industry is expected to see a boom from $ 30 billion to $ 80 billion. And Indonesia is the fourth most populated country in the world, making the ban on gambling even more surprising.
How are online gambling platforms banned?
There are 25 IPS providers in Indonesia which all use a feature of Google called Google Smart Search which filters out the unauthorized apps from the google search results. Since this method is not foolproof, the Indonesian government resorts to blacklisting the gambling websites, and the number of these blacklisted websites has been increasing continuously.
Ways to do gambling in Indonesia
There are some options available to the citizens and tourists of Indonesia if they want to take part in gambling and betting games.
There are certain casinos and slot machines in Jakarta and Bali but they demand heavy fees and are available only to a limited number of people. Also, offline gambling in such underground gambling and betting centers do not operate within the purview of the law and hence is a very risky option.
In contrast to the risky underground centers and the unpopular legally licensed free lotteries, the online gambling arena provides a safer option for lottery gambling and betting for the Indonesian people. The online platform Prediksipusat which translates to ‘Prediction Center’ provides a host of options to gamble in Singapore lotteries and Hong Kong lotteries which are respectively known as Prediksi SPG and Prediksi HK.
Note that only the Indonesian websites are banned by the government and there are many international lottery gambling and betting websites that are accessible.
Summary
Lottery gambling in Indonesia is tricky. On one hand, the law lays restrictions on the operation of online and offline gambling hubs, and on the other hand, international gambling websites are allowed to freely function. There is pressure on the government to legalize lottery gambling and betting in view of their demand and revenue prospects.
