The following article was translated using both Microsoft Azure Open AI and Google Translation AI.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS — The government through the Ministry of Communication and Informatics or the Ministry of Communication and Information will coordinate with law enforcement officials to take firm action against the actors behind the rise of gambling a> online. The development of technology is one of the biggest challenges in suppressing the practice of online gambling, or better known as slot gambling.

Online gambling through various platforms is widely known among the general public as slot gambling. Slot gambling is a form of gambling game that depends on luck from each spin on the machine.

From June 2018 to August 7 2023, the Ministry of Communication and Information claims to have blocked and suspended (take down) 886,719 online gambling content or around 1,500-2,000 sites per day. In the past month, 42,622 online gambling content has been blocked, both in the form of sites and applications similar to online games.

Minister of Communication and Information Technology, Budi Arie Setiadi, stated on Tuesday (8/8/2023) that prevention efforts through blocking and cutting off access are not enough to eradicate online gambling content. This is because thousands of gambling content continue to emerge every day despite being blocked.

“As a concrete step, we will coordinate with the police as soon as possible in the context of law enforcement for online gambling actors, starting from developers, bookies, promoters, sponsors, as well as those involved behind the scenes. ,” he said when giving a statement at the Office of the Ministry of Communication and Informatics, Jakarta.

This effort, continued Budi, cannot be separated from public anxiety over the increasingly widespread phenomenon of online gambling or slot gambling. Of the hundreds of thousands of gambling content, Higgs Domino Island is an application similar to an online game that does not escape blocking.

Based on reports and data received by the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, the turnover of money in gambling activities through the application reaches Rp 2.2 trillion per month or Rp 27 trillion per year. Currently, the application has been blocked and cannot be accessed, either through Playstore or App Store.

According to Budi, to solve the problem of gambling, literacy and education of the society are needed. Moreover, the society is now facilitated in accessing and obtaining various information about gambling due to the rapid development of technology.

There must be a shared awareness that this slot gambling has a great destructive power, especially since its victims mostly come from the lower class and even children.

“There must be a joint awareness that slot gambling has a great destructive power, especially as its victims mostly come from lower-class people and even children. They can spend up to Rp 30,000 per day or Rp 900,000 per month, while that money could be used for more important needs,” Budi continued.

Apart from blocking sites, the Ministry of Communication and Informatics is also working with other stakeholders to block accounts and cellular operator numbers used in gambling content. Based on the records of the Ministry of Communication and Information, the number of blocked account numbers reaches 800 accounts every week.

On the other hand, blocking numbers used for gambling promotions has encountered obstacles because the parties involved are using foreign mobile operators. Therefore, Budi urges the wider community to continue monitoring and reporting the development of gambling content to the government, including promotional efforts through social media.

Also read: Online Gambling Content Takes Advantage of Weak Security Gaps

Technological development

As an integral part that cannot be separated from the footprints of human civilization, gambling has developed along with the passage of time. Nowadays, gambling practices have evolved into digital platforms, thereby expanding their circulation wider and more massive.

Chairman of the Communication and Information System Security Research Center (CISSReC) Pratama Persadha explained, online gambling operators continue to develop sophisticated technology and software to hide their tracks. This allows perpetrators to hide (anonymity) the gambling platform so that it is difficult to trace their identity and location.

“Technological developments have made the practice of gambling more widespread and difficult to eradicate, even if it is banned. They use encryption methods and virtual private network (VPN) services to hide their physical location, making law enforcement action more difficult,” he said when contacted from Jakarta.

Furthermore, there are many gambling sites that operate from abroad. This practice occurred in an apartment in Cengkareng District, West Jakarta, and was uncovered by the police. The police have designated 16 people as suspects due to their involvement in online gambling marketing centered in Cambodia (Kompas.id, 18/1/2023).

According to Pratama, gambling operators have various ways to remain undetected, such as changing site domains regularly and infiltrating government and educational sites. The Ministry of Communication and Information noted that the number of gambling links (links) found reached 2,099 links from 286 domain names on government agency websites.

Read also : From Cambodia, Online Gambling Operators Recruited via Telegram

Therefore, continued Pratama, security awareness and security capabilities (security capability) of electronic system owners need to be increased to support the eradication of gambling sites. This is inseparable from the vulnerabilities of government and private sites which are often exploited by both hackers and online gambling operators.

“Some of these sites are sites that are not properly maintained, such as update, application patching, and certain software against a vulnerability that makes them vulnerable to attacks. cyber,” said Pratama.

On the other hand, the development of electronic devices has made it easier for the public to access online gambling platforms. Furthermore, the public has also been facilitated in transactions through various digital platforms.

Also read: Online Gambling Promotion Involve ”Influencers”