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Indonesian gambling market overview in 2024

May 26, 2023
7 min
1890

Indonesia is a Southeast Asian country spread across more than 17,000 volcanic islands and populated by people of different religious faiths and different languages. The capital of Indonesia is Jakarta, a bright city located on the island of Java. Online gambling is a popular form of entertainment, despite laws which restrict them in the country.

Indonesia

The Republic of Indonesia has a population of over 250 million and a total area of nearly 2 million square meters, making it the largest country in the region in terms of both population and territory. With 88% of the population adhering to Islam, Indonesia is home to the world’s largest Muslim population.

Indonesia has a rapidly developing economy. The country’s GDP for 2021 was $1.19 trillion — 7th in the world and first in Southeast Asia. Strong ties with other Asian countries and many Western partners have led to impressive economic growth in recent years.

The country’s substantial population also has access to a strong telecommunications network. Indonesia has the fourth highest absolute number of internet users in Asia after China, India and Japan, and 90% of the population lives within cell phone coverage. The high rate of connectivity means that despite the strictness of local laws, locals have easy access to the online gambling market.

Keep reading to learn the ins and outs of the Indonesian gambling market.

Overview of the gambling industry in Indonesia

Many countries in Asia still take a dim view of gambling and ban it in all its variations, Indonesia included. All forms of gambling, from casinos to lotteries, are prohibited in Indonesia. This is because most Indonesians are Muslim, and Islamic law considers gambling a horrible sin.

Legislation of Indonesia

Gambling is completely forbidden for both locals and foreigners in Indonesia. There are no running casinos in the country, and players can be severely punished by the authorities.

In the province of Aceh, which is known for its conservatism, gamblers and organizers are publicly flogged. In some cases, players caught gambling have been publicly beaten. In other parts of the country, gambling can be punished with three to five years in jail, but if you're lucky, you can get away with it.

Unlike other countries where, although gambling is illegal, authorities turn a blind eye, police in Indonesia have the time, strength, and desire to prosecute gambling projects: more than 500,000 gambling sites have been blocked since 2018.

Popularity of online gambling

However, the strictness of Sharia law isn’t too big of a hurdle for Indonesian players. Gambling is part of Indonesian culture and history, and many Indonesians have been playing with family and friends since childhood. With all local options banned, players turn to safer online options.

While there’s no official regulator to publish statistics on participation or revenues, the scale of the country’s domestic underground operations gives a good indication of the size of the market. One gambling ring broken up by police in 2012 had a daily turnover of $33,000; another, shut down in 2019, was handling roughly $43,000 in bets per day.

Indonesia players’ game preferences

Users from Indonesia prefer games designed with a regional flavor. Games with Eastern themes have a familiar atmosphere that players find appealing, increasing the duration of the game session and many other factors that increase engagement during the game.

Types of games are equally as important for casino owners to consider as themes and designs. Indonesian players have a variety of tastes: slots, live dealer games, poker, blackjack, roulette, table games such as fish shooting, dominoes and variants of dominoes such as Qiu Qiu, it can also be called Poker 99 using domino dice.

Finding reliable suppliers of quality games is a time-consuming and difficult process. After conducting a full and in-depth study of the market, operators engage in negotiations with each game provider — and for a full game portfolio, they need to cooperate with a wide range of them. As each contract includes its own fees, the costs (not to mention the time spent) can quickly add up.

However, you can save a lot of time and money by using a reputable aggregator. Doing so will not only offer a selection of new and innovative games through a single integration via APIgrator, but also regularly update the portfolio of game content.

Betting in Indonesia

Indonesians are incredibly enthusiastic when it comes to betting on sports. They even have a special Indonesian odds system, which is quite different from the European and American systems.

The list of popular sports for betting includes soccer, badminton, cricket, cybersports, basketball, cycling, boxing, fighting sports such as Muay Thai and Pencak-Silat, as well as Sepak takraw, a combination of soccer and volleyball.

Many betting platforms wishing to accept players from Indonesia not only translate their platforms into Indonesian, but they fully localize the content and offer the Indonesian odds system to make their platform as convenient as possible for locals.

Online casino and sportsbook software

Finding quality software is essential for launching an online casino or sportsbook. The platform should not only be safe, reliable, functional, and user-friendly, but also visually attractive, because the first thing players will see is the site’s frontend design. If they don’t like the aesthetic or if they find it difficult to navigate, chances are slim to none that they’ll bother signing up and playing.

You can start your own online casino project in just a few clicks with our multifunctional gambling software.

Payment methods in Indonesia

Many Indonesian players prefer to make bets and deposits using the classic methods, such as Visa or Mastercard, while others prefer e-wallets. Among the most popular options in the country are OVO, GoPay, DANA, LinkAja and Jenius.

Cryptocurrencies are another popular method for making deposits. In fact, Indonesia is fast becoming a regional leader in crypto activity. It’s estimated that just over 12 million people, or 4.5% of the population, hold some form of cryptocurrency. Demographically, roughly 78% of Indonesian crypto holders are between the ages of 18 and 44, and crypto ownership seems correlated with income level; the rate of Indonesians who hold Bitcoin or another cryptocurrency rises to 41% among those earning at least $14,000 a year.

The security and anonymity provided by Bitcoin, Ethereum, and others make crypto casinos a popular choice for Indonesian players. While it’s technically forbidden to use cryptocurrencies as a form of payment, it’s legal to hold and trade them as assets — as with gold, for example — and given the anonymity promised by crypto wallets, there’s little to stop players from using them on online casinos and sportsbooks.

To facilitate the integration of each payment system and reduce the paperwork generated by signing a separate contract with each vendor, you can use an aggregator to integrate all payment methods at once. For example, our Moneygrator solution combines 250 payment systems for different gambling markets in a single integration session.

How can Slotegrator help?

Indonesia is an attractive market to start or expand your online casino, but it is worth considering all the restrictions and details. Local legislation is constrictive, but the market is continuing to grow.

If the process of opening an online casino seems very confusing, complicated, and costly, that’s because it easily can be. Challenges such as creating a business structure, developing a platform, and dealing with international bureaucracy and regulations are just the beginning.

That is why many operators turn to aggregator companies, such as Slotegrator, to save time and money, avoid paperwork, and eliminate potential mistakes. In addition, instead of constantly negotiating with new game content providers, they can purchase a portfolio of 15,000 games from more than 100 developers in a single agreement.

We also offer turnkey gaming platform development and white label solutions to speed up the process of launching an online casino. In addition, our legal team is always ready to help operators with complex issues related to the licensing process and the regulations of specific jurisdictions.

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