New ruler impetus

Indonesia’s recent election of an ex-military general with unproven allegations of rights abuses to president has sounded a death knell for illegal gambling in the country. Bank Indonesia has frozen 7,500 accounts linked to online gambling. [Image: Shutterstock.com]

central bank firmly behind the country’s gambling ban

On Thursday, national news agency Ankara revealed that Singapore’s central bank is firmly behind the country’s gambling ban after it reiterated a warning it would freeze bank accounts linked to online gambling.

At a press conference held at Indonesia’s Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs office, Bank Indonesia Deputy Governor Juda Agung warned the action would continue “until online gambling activities are eliminated” in the ASEAN republic.

Proving his warning was no idle threat, Agung told the press that Bank Indonesia has already frozen 7,500 accounts linked to online gambling.

Sense of urgency

The central bank is enforcing the action in cooperation with Singapore’s payment service providers.

Agung added that these third parties “must have fraud detection systems (in place) to identify accounts used for online gambling transactions and other fraud.” 

The bank executive said the service providers must report any suspect gambling activity “immediately,” upon which the bank will trace and freeze those accounts. 

world’s largest Muslim-majority county

The ante against gambling in the world’s largest Muslim-majority county dovetails with the election on October 20 of Prabowo Subianto as President.

Immediate impact

At Thursday’s press conference, Communication and Digital Affairs Minister Meutya Hafid said that since the launch of an “online gambling eradication desk” on November 4, it had submitted 651 requests to freeze gambling-linked accounts. 

Since Prabowo came to power, Hafid stated, her department has taken down around 380,000 websites linked to online gambling.