Four "Online" Gambling Promoters Arrested, Earning Turnover of Up to IDR 1 Billion Per Month

The suspects have been promoting and creating online gambling services since 2021. Currently the total turnover is IDR 30 billion.

HUMAS POLDA METRO JAYA

Several pieces of evidence used by online gambling suspects were seized by the police on Thursday (25/4/2024).

JAKARTA, KOMPAS — The Investigation Team of the Cyber ​​Subdirectorate of the Special Criminal Investigation Directorate Polda Metro Jaya arrested four suspects for alleged crimes of online gambling (online). The suspects promoted online gambling slots via YouTube accounts with a turnover of IDR 1 billion per month.

The four suspects who were arrested on Wednesday (24/4/2024) evening in Depok were Eko Purnomo or EP (30), Benny Yudha Perdana or BYP (37), Dimas Aprianto or DA (24), and Teguh Ariyanto or TA (40 ). They promote online gambling slots through the Zakki Channel YouTube account or Bos Zaki. Two suspects (EP and BYP) come from Depok, while the other two suspects, DA from Sragen and TA from Karanganyar.

"Currently the suspects have been detained at the Polda Metro Jaya Detention Center. "They posted online game videos of the Higgs Domino Slot and Royal Dream," said the Director of Special Criminal Investigation at Polda Metro Jaya, Ade Safri Simanjuntak, Friday (26/4/2024).

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Ade said, in the uploaded video there is a description that aims to promote sales of chips or gambling betting tools.

In this case, EP serves as the manager and owner of the account that uploaded the online game videos of Higgs Domino and Royal Dream. BYP acts as the live broadcast and coin trading admin for the Higgs Domino and Royal Dream game.

HUMAS POLDA METRO JAYA

Arrest of suspected online gambling promoter by Polda Metro Jaya, Friday (26/4/2024).

Then, DA acts as admin of live YouTube broadcasts and buys and sells coins for the online Higgs Domino and Royal Dream Slot games. TA acts as admin of live broadcasts and buying and selling coins for the Higgs Domino and Royal Dream Slot games.

"The boss is the suspect EP, while the others are live streaming admins and game coin buying and selling admins," said Ade.

Ade said that the suspects had been carrying out this action since 2021. The location of the live streaming of online gambling and coin sales was in a rental house in the Cimanggis Golf Estate Cluster Margatha Tapos housing complex, Depok City. The four were arrested at the house.

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Using computers and gadgets, the suspect has earned a revenue ranging from Rp 300 million to Rp 1 billion per month. "Since the beginning, the revenue has reached around Rp 30 billion," said Ade.

HUMAS POLDA METRO JAYA

Boss Zaki's YouTube channel which the suspect used to promote online gambling.

Meanwhile, EP pays three suspects a monthly salary ranging from Rp 5 million to Rp 10 million, depending on their success in finding "prey".

Deputy Director of Special Crime Investigation of Metro Jaya Regional Police, Senior Commissioner Hendri Umar, added that the online gambling application being promoted was created by the suspect themselves and directly managed by EP.

For the time being, there is no involvement from external parties. However, the police are still investigating the background of the suspects because none of them are graduates of information technology (IT).

”In practice, players will be given a link. "Through this link, players can download the application (online gambling)," he said.

Currently, said Hendri, his party is still in the stage of tracing the assets of the suspects, especially EP, who is the boss.

A number of pieces of evidence were confiscated in the case. The evidence is 22 smartphones of various brands, 1 small cupboard shelf containing sim cards that have been used, 1 DANA account that is no longer active in the form of sim cards, 6 PC monitor screens, 10 CPUs, 9 Logitech brand keyboards, 2 Logitech brand mice, 1 white Zte F670 L Wi-Fi router, and 2 BCA tokens .

The four perpetrators were charged under Article 27 Paragraph (2) jo Article 45 Paragraph (3) of Law Number 1 of 2024 concerning ITE; and/or Article 303 of the Criminal Code; and Article 3, Article 4, and Article 5 of Law Number 8 of 2010 concerning the Crime of Money Laundering (TPPU).

Anyone who fulfills the elements as referred to in Article 27 Paragraph (2) shall be punished with a maximum prison sentence of 6 years and/or a maximum fine of Rp 1 billion. Meanwhile, according to Article 303 of the Criminal Code Paragraph (1), the suspect faces a maximum prison sentence of 10 years or a maximum fine of Rp 25 million. Furthermore, in Article 3 of Law No. 8 of 2010, the punishment is a maximum prison sentence of 20 years and a maximum fine of Rp 10 billion.

Educate

In response to the widespread phenomenon of online gambling, social media observer from the Bandung Institute of Technology, Enda Nasution, believes that the government needs to take action against online gambling operators and promoters, as well as educate the public about the negative impacts of playing slots or online gambling.

"So far, the government has only made statements prohibiting and anti-online gambling," said Enda.

According to Enda, the government should be able to set an example of how this illegal activity has caused losses of up to Rp 200 trillion, which is essentially public money. She then reminds the public to see how the impact of online gambling can spread to other issues.

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As an example, many individuals have admitted to being trapped in online loan debt, household disputes, and even committing suicide due to playing slots.

"The government also needs to tighten its supervision of online gambling content on social media. There are still many promoters playing there," he said.

Police observer from the Institute for Security and Strategic Studies, Bambang Rukminto, believes that law enforcement by the police over the past two years has only targeted retailers and consumers at the lower levels, despite the large number of cases, while gambling bosses remain untouched.

According to Bambang, the first step that must be taken is to stop online gambling from operating in Indonesia. This can be done by identifying suspicious accounts as reported by the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (PPATK). Despite the fact that online gambling servers are located outside the country, transactions are still carried out in Indonesia.

In line with that, law enforcement must be carried out by targeting the root of the problem, which is to catch online gambling dealers. Without it, online gambling will always exist.

Still widespread

As previously reported by Kompas, Head of the Public Information Bureau, Public Relations Division of the National Police, Brigadier General (Pol) Trunoyudo Wisnu Andiko, Thursday (25/4/2024), said that the National Police is committed to enforcing the law, especially in gambling cases. This is in accordance with the National Police Chief's instructions to eradicate gambling.

Throughout the first quarter of 2024, the police have dealt with 792 cases throughout Indonesia with 1,158 suspects. This number is lower compared to the same period in 2023, which was 1,196 cases with 1,987 suspects.

As of 2023, the police took action against gambling, both conventional and online, in 2,459 cases. Also in 2023, the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (Kominfo) blocked 10,056 online gambling sites, while the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (PPATK) froze 1,229 gambling accounts worth IDR 161.3 billion.

Minister for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs, Hadi Tjahjanto, revealed that throughout 2023, there were 3.2 million people in Indonesia who engaged in online gambling with an aggregate turnover of IDR 327 trillion. Around 80 percent of them played with a value of less than IDR 100,000.

For the first three months of this year, the amount of money circulating from online gambling has reached IDR 100 trillion from various sources. Meanwhile, to date, the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (Kominfo) has closed down 805,923 online gambling content.