Most Popular Bookies in Indonesia

22Bet, 1xBet, Betfair, Meltbet, and BK8, are some of the offshore betting sites accepting players from Indonesia. Indonesians use VPNs to ensure the authorities don't catch up with them to access these sites. The implication for this is that punters in Indonesia are not protected. If an overseas online betting site withholds their money, there is no legal route to help them recover their losses.

To prevent such a scenario, any Indonesian punter needs to pay due diligence when choosing a sportsbook to bet at. To sum up, betting is not as popular in Indonesia as it is in non-Islamic states, but there are millions of Indonesians who bet at offshore international casinos.

Indonesia remains under the strict rule of Sharia law, whose stand on betting and gambling, in general, is clear. With the 2012 announcement in force, Indonesian authorities have implemented several measures to ensure no one bets online within the country's borders. This is a pointer to the fact that the betting landscape in Indonesia has no bright future.

However, unless the government goes the extra mile to block access to offshore sportsbooks, its efforts may not be very effective. Technology is evolving every day. Today, there are VPNs to reach otherwise inaccessible betting sites from Indonesian soil. With these tools, punters in Indonesia can bet at any international site while masking their actual IP addresses. This makes it very difficult for the government to police internet activities.

What is more, many online betting sites still allow Indonesians to sign up and bet on their favorite sports events. And cryptos are taking internet betting by storm, with punters able to bet anonymously. Without cryptos, the Indonesian government had a good chance to implement its online betting ban effectively.

That's because VPNs can be blocked with robust anti-VPN technology. A good example is the Great Firewall of China. With this 'wall,' China is able to regulate internet use within the country and block access to foreign websites. No VPN has proved to be able to bypass this barrier. Who knows, Indonesia may be contemplating the same.

The Internet Factor

The widespread internet accessibility in Indonesia seems to be one of the biggest obstacles as far as preventing online betting is concerned. Today (as of 2022), about 70% of the country is connected to the internet. That means at least 190 million Indonesians use the internet, making it literally impossible to prevent online gambling.

But the spread of the internet won't stop there. There are another 90 million or so people who are yet to access the internet. By the time the whole population is covered, the situation may worsen. What may be left for the authorities in Indonesia is arrests and prosecution of lawbreakers, who are already proving to be too clever by using virtual private networks.

So far, it is clear that gambling laws in Indonesia are stricter than any punter can imagine. This is terrible news for Indonesians who want to give sports betting a shot. To worsen the situation, the country's Social Affairs Ministry, in collaboration with the Communications and IT Ministry, created an internet censorship scheme to block the citizens from accessing gambling websites in the country.

One thing to note is that although gambling is illegal in Indonesia, there are secretly operated physical gambling casinos that take bets. The operators of these physical locations are criminal gangs who are always on the run; hence, it not safe at all to bet in such places. The best option for gamblers is online gambling sites with a solid reputation.

Punishing Gambling Culprits in Indonesia

While there are ways to get around these laws anyway, it is essential for bettors to understand what awaits them in case the system catches up with them. The Indonesian Criminal Code provides imprisonment of up to a decade for citizens who break gambling laws. There are also other forms of punishment, such as flogging. In 2013, for instance, a police officer was flogged in public for violating gambling laws in Indonesia. This may be a surprise, especially in Europe, but what else can be expected of an Islamic state?

Legal Gambling Age in Indonesia

Now that sports betting and gambling at large are prohibited in Indonesia, there is no such thing as the legal gambling age; it simply doesn't exist in the country's legal dictionary. However, offshore sites that accept Indonesians tend to demand a certain minimum age before accepting punters from the country. This varies from one sportsbook to another, but most put the age qualification at 18 or 21. But with most offshore bookies unable to verify the age of bettors, the age requirement is not a big issue for Indonesian citizens. More often, sportsbooks require punters to answer a simple yes/no question about their age. This is perhaps a disclaimer strategy; who knows?

Indonesians who want to deposit funds and bet for real money must not forget one thing; the Indonesian government is always on the lookout for lawbreakers. That means Indonesians cannot use banking methods that expose them to the long arm of the law.

Players who attempt to deposit funds into their sportsbook accounts using debit or credit cards risk losing their money. Besides, local banks in the country, including Bank Mandiri and Bank Rakyat Indonesia, can't risk facing the government's wrath by allowing punters to transfer funds to their betting accounts. Hence, Indonesian punters who want to bet at offshore sportsbooks must transact anonymously to avoid being caught. Here are some of the safest banking methods available to these citizens.

Cryptocurrencies

No banking method comes close to cryptos in terms of safety. Cryptos are digital currencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin, and Litecoin. Of these, Bitcoin is the most popular. Cryptos are entirely anonymous, which means the Indonesian government has no chance of catching the users. All crypto deposits and withdrawals cannot be traced to any actual address or name.

E-wallets

E-wallets are not only used in Indonesia but the world at large. In fact, e-wallets are the most common way of sending and receiving money online, and their safety cannot be questioned. Like cryptos, e-wallets are not linked directly to users' personal information. This makes it difficult for anyone to trace users. Some popular e-wallets in Indonesia include Jenius, DANA, LinkAja, OVO, and GoPay. That's a decent collection punters can choose from.