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Gambling in Indonesia: Laws and Online Gambling

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Online gambling in Indonesia: laws and player risks

Elodie explains online casino rules in Indonesia, player enforcement evidence, offshore risks and available options. Checked 9 November 2026.

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Published by Casino News Daily editorial teamReviewed byFilip RadulovicOur editorial approach

Indonesia prohibits gambling in all its forms. There are no licensed casinos, no licensed betting operators and no licensed online gambling services. Gambling is a criminal offence under the national Criminal Code, which was replaced by a new code on 2 January 2026, and online gambling is additionally targeted by the Electronic Information and Transactions Law, which since 2024 provides for up to ten years’ imprisonment for distributing or making accessible gambling content. In the province of Aceh, gambling is also punishable under local Islamic criminal law. The government treats online gambling as a national enforcement priority, combining website blocking, financial measures and public education.

Key points

All gambling is prohibited; there is no licensing system for casinos, betting or online gambling.
A new Criminal Code (Law No. 1 of 2023) took effect on 2 January 2026; it contains the gambling offences (Articles 426 and 427) and repealed the 1974 Gambling Control Law.
Under the Electronic Information and Transactions Law as amended in 2024, distributing or making accessible electronic gambling content is punishable by up to ten years’ imprisonment and/or a fine of up to Rp10 billion.
A presidential task force on online gambling was created in June 2024, and the Ministry of Communication and Digital now runs an Online Gambling Eradication Desk.
In Aceh, gambling is an offence under Sharia law, punishable by public caning, imprisonment or a fine payable in gold.

Regional overview: Gambling laws in Asia puts all 33 countries and territories on one map, grouped by how they regulate gambling.

Last reviewed: 14 October 2026.

Historical development

Illustrated Indonesia landmarks with reference books and documents for the relevant legislation section

Indonesia’s attitude to gambling has not always been one of complete prohibition. Under Governor Ali Sadikin (1966–1977), Jakarta legalised gambling by a governor’s decree dated 21 September 1967 and channelled the revenue into roads, bridges, schools and hospitals in the capital; the first licensed casino opened in the Glodok area and another later operated at Ancol, as CNBC Indonesia recounted in 2025. That arrangement lost its footing as national policy moved firmly towards prohibition with the 1974 gambling law.

The key statute of that shift was Law No. 7 of 1974 on Gambling Control (Penertiban Perjudian), enacted on 6 November 1974. It replaced a Dutch colonial ordinance of 1912 and reinforced the gambling provisions of the Criminal Code. It was implemented by Government Regulation No. 9 of 1981, issued on 28 March 1981, which remains listed as in force in the State Audit Board’s legal database. Since then there has been no lawful casino, sports betting or commercial gaming sector in Indonesia.

Offshore online gambling sites became accessible to Indonesian users as internet and, later, mobile phone use expanded. Because physical gambling was unavailable, demand moved online, and in the 2020s online gambling, locally known as judi online or judol, became a major political and social issue.

Legal framework

The Criminal Code

Gambling has long been an offence under Indonesia’s Criminal Code (Kitab Undang-Undang Hukum Pidana, KUHP). The colonial-era code, as reinforced by the 1974 law, governed gambling until the end of 2025. On 2 January 2023 Indonesia enacted a new Criminal Code, Law No. 1 of 2023, which took effect three years later, on 2 January 2026. The new code contains the gambling offences in Articles 426 and 427, and its entry into force repealed Law No. 7 of 1974 (State Audit Board legal database). The new code has since been amended by Law No. 1 of 2026 on the adjustment of criminal sanctions.

The transition to the new code is significant for anyone reading older material on Indonesian gambling law: references to the 1974 law and to the article numbers of the old code describe the position before 2026. Penalties under the new code are expressed partly through fine “categories” set out in its general part; Category III, for example, is Rp50 million and Category VI is Rp2 billion.

As summarised by the legal publisher Hukumonline (June 2025), Article 426(1) punishes anyone who, without a permit, offers or provides the opportunity to gamble as a business, takes part in a gambling business, or offers gambling to the public, with up to nine years’ imprisonment or a fine of up to Category VI; where the offence is committed in the course of a profession, the right to practise it may also be withdrawn (Article 426(2)). Article 427 is aimed at participants: any person who makes use of an opportunity to gamble organised without a permit faces up to three years’ imprisonment or a fine of up to Category III. Since Indonesia issues no gambling permits, the qualification “without a permit” does not open a lawful route to gambling.

The Electronic Information and Transactions Law

Online gambling is also addressed through the Electronic Information and Transactions Law (Undang-Undang Informasi dan Transaksi Elektronik, the ITE Law), Law No. 11 of 2008, as amended in 2016 and again by Law No. 1 of 2024, which was enacted and took effect on 2 January 2024. In the text of the 2024 amendment:

Article 27(2) prohibits any person from intentionally and without right distributing, transmitting or making accessible electronic information or documents that contain gambling content (muatan perjudian); and
Article 45(3) punishes that conduct with imprisonment of up to ten years and/or a fine of up to Rp10,000,000,000 (ten billion rupiah).

The ITE Law provision is broad. It reaches those who run gambling websites and apps, those who promote them online, and others who make gambling content accessible. It is one of the main legal bases for prosecuting promoters and operators of online gambling, and for the government’s blocking of gambling content.

Aceh

Aceh, which has special autonomy, applies Islamic criminal law alongside national law. The UK government’s travel advice for Indonesia states that “in the province of Aceh gambling is illegal under Sharia law. Punishment following a Sharia court process includes public caning, a prison sentence or a fine payable in gold.”

Regulator and licensing model

Indonesia has a prohibition model: the state neither licenses private operators nor runs its own gambling monopoly. There is therefore no gambling regulator in the sense of a licensing authority. Responsibility for dealing with gambling is shared between enforcement bodies:

the police and prosecutors, who investigate and prosecute gambling offences under the Criminal Code and the ITE Law;
the Ministry of Communication and Digital (Komdigi), which blocks online gambling content and runs public digital literacy campaigns; and
the other ministries and agencies brought together in the national task force described below.

In June 2024 President Joko Widodo created a cross-ministerial Task Force for the Eradication of Online Gambling by Presidential Decree No. 21 of 2024, signed on 14 June 2024, to accelerate and coordinate action against online gambling. The decree set the task force’s term as running until 31 December 2024.

Online gambling and enforcement

No online gambling service can be lawfully offered in Indonesia. The government’s enforcement approach is set out in a statement by the Ministry of Communication and Digital of 3 March 2025. Minister Meutya Hafid said that online gambling “causes both economic damage and broad social harm” and called for a technology-driven approach with cross-sector collaboration. The ministry runs two desks under the President’s priority programme, one of them an Online Gambling Eradication Desk. Its strategy has three components:

legal frameworks and law enforcement;
technology-based access blocking, meaning orders that require internet service providers to prevent users from reaching gambling websites and content; and
public digital literacy, intended to discourage people from taking part in illegal gambling.

The presidential special adviser on political and security affairs, General (ret.) Wiranto, called at the same meeting for “quick and decisive action with clear regulations and effective law enforcement to close gaps in online gambling distribution” (Komdigi, March 2025). In practice, enforcement concentrates on the operators, promoters, payment agents and account holders who make online gambling available, as well as on the content itself.

The scale of blocking has grown steadily. Minister Meutya Hafid reported in November 2025 that about 2.45 million gambling sites and items of content had been blocked between October 2024 and 2 November 2025 (Bisnis Indonesia, 13 November 2025), and told Commission I of the House of Representatives in May 2026 that the total had reached about 3.45 million by 16 May 2026 (detikInet, 18 May 2026). Action increasingly extends to payment channels: during 2025 the ministry asked the Financial Services Authority (OJK) to block 25,214 bank accounts suspected of links to online gambling. Figures from the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (PPATK), as cited by the minister, point to a fall in online gambling money flows in 2025 compared with 2024, although the totals quoted in different statements vary.

Criminal enforcement runs alongside blocking. At the National Police’s 2025 year-end press conference, the head of its Criminal Investigation Agency (Bareskrim) reported 665 online gambling cases with 741 suspects during 2025 and seizures of assets worth about Rp1.5 trillion (Investor Trust, 30 December 2025).

Position of players

Because Indonesia criminalises gambling itself, a person who gambles is not in a legally neutral position simply because the website is run from abroad. An overseas licence held by an operator has no effect in Indonesian law. In Aceh, players can be punished under Sharia law by caning, imprisonment or a fine. Nationally, Article 427 of the new Criminal Code makes it an offence to make use of an opportunity to gamble organised without a permit, punishable by up to three years’ imprisonment or a fine of up to Rp50 million (Category III), according to Hukumonline’s summary of the provision. Readers should not assume that playing online carries no risk. Funds sent to offshore gambling sites also pass outside any consumer protection: there is no regulator to which a player can complain about unpaid winnings or account closures.

Taxation

Indonesia does not tax gambling as a lawful activity, because no gambling is lawful. There are no licensed operators paying gambling duties and no lawful winnings for players to declare. The money involved in illegal gambling is a matter for criminal law rather than for the tax system.

Consumer protection and responsible gambling

Secure account login with a padlock and shield Since Indonesia has no licensed gambling sector, it has no system of operator-based safeguards such as deposit limits, self-exclusion registers or regulated complaints procedures. The government’s response to gambling harm is primarily preventive and punitive: blocking access, prosecuting operators and promoters, and educating the public through the Ministry of Communication and Digital’s digital literacy programmes. The Ministry of Health has described gambling disorder as a mental disorder classed in the same category as substance use disorders, and refers the public to its general Halo Kemenkes line (1500-567); no dedicated national gambling helpline or self-exclusion scheme was identified. Anyone affected by gambling problems can find general guidance in our responsible gambling guide and should seek help from local health services.

Recent and upcoming developments

Tougher ITE Law penalties (2024). The second amendment to the ITE Law, in force since 2 January 2024, set the maximum penalty for distributing gambling content at ten years’ imprisonment and a fine of Rp10 billion.
Institutional focus. After the 2024 presidential task force, online gambling eradication became one of the priority desks of the Ministry of Communication and Digital in 2025.
Enforcement figures (2025–2026). By May 2026 the Ministry of Communication and Digital reported about 3.45 million gambling sites and items of content blocked since October 2024, and police reported 741 suspects in online gambling cases during 2025.
New Criminal Code (2026). The new KUHP took effect on 2 January 2026, replacing the colonial-era code and repealing the 1974 Gambling Control Law. Courts and prosecutors are now applying its gambling provisions for the first time.
Constitutional review. Parts of the new Criminal Code have been reviewed by the Constitutional Court, which declared some unrelated provisions unconstitutional or conditionally unconstitutional; the gambling articles were not among those identified in the State Audit Board’s database entry.

Sources and further reading

Ministry of Communication and Digital (Komdigi), Statement on tackling online gambling (3 March 2025).
State Audit Board (BPK), JDIH database, Undang-Undang Nomor 1 Tahun 2023 tentang Kitab Undang-Undang Hukum Pidana (Criminal Code) (accessed 5 October 2026).
State Audit Board (BPK), JDIH database, Undang-Undang Nomor 1 Tahun 2024 (Second Amendment to the Electronic Information and Transactions Law) (accessed 5 October 2026).
Government of Indonesia, Text of Law No. 1 of 2024 (PDF, accessed 5 October 2026).
State Audit Board (BPK), JDIH database, Undang-Undang Nomor 7 Tahun 1974 tentang Penertiban Perjudian (Gambling Control Law) (accessed 5 October 2026).
State Audit Board (BPK), JDIH database, Peraturan Pemerintah Nomor 9 Tahun 1981 (Government Regulation No. 9 of 1981) (accessed 5 October 2026).
State Audit Board (BPK), JDIH database, Keputusan Presiden Nomor 21 Tahun 2024 tentang Satuan Tugas Pemberantasan Perjudian Daring (Online Gambling Eradication Task Force) (2024).
UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, Indonesia travel advice: safety and security (accessed 5 October 2026).
CNBC Indonesia, Kasino Legal Pertama di Jakarta Dibuka, Langsung Untung Rp 200 Miliar (21 September 2025).
Hukumonline, Hukum Judi Online (June 2025).
Bisnis Indonesia, Komdigi Blokir 2,45 Juta Situs Judi Online, Nilai Transaksi Turun 56% (13 November 2025).
detikInet, Data Terbaru Judi Online: 3,4 Juta Konten Sudah Diblokir (18 May 2026).
Investor Trust, Polisi Tangkap 741 Tersangka dan Sita Aset Judol Senilai Rp 1,5 Triliun Sepanjang 2025 (30 December 2025).
Ministry of Health (Kemenkes), Tingkat Candu Judi Online seperti Zat Adiktif (10 July 2024).

Casino listings for players in Indonesia

The listings below are generated automatically from our casino database. They do not show that an operator is licensed in Indonesia. All gambling is prohibited in Indonesia, offering online casino games to people in Indonesia is not permitted, and distributing or making accessible online gambling content is a criminal offence. The listings must not be read as an indication that playing is lawful. For the government’s position, see the Ministry of Communication and Digital’s statement on online gambling (in Indonesian).

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