Indonesia: gambling regulation and licensing
Republic of Indonesia
- Online casinoProhibited
- Online sports bettingProhibited
- Land-based (reference)Prohibited
- Headline tax
- Not yet verified
- Licence required
- Not yet verified
- Last verified
- 30 Aug 2026
Summary
Indonesia prohibits gambling outright, for citizens and foreigners alike, and there is no licensing regime of any kind. The prohibition is grounded in both national law and Islamic law in the world's largest Muslim-majority country. What makes Indonesia significant to the industry is not its market but its enforcement scale. The Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs, Komdigi, runs one of the largest content-blocking operations anywhere: it acted against more than 5.7 million pieces of online gambling content between 2017 and January 2025, and blocked tens of thousands of gambling-related items in the first week of 2025 alone. Blocking reaches websites and IP addresses, Meta platforms, file-sharing services, Google, YouTube, X, Telegram and TikTok. The enforcement priority is political, set at presidential level, and framed around protecting young people rather than around market regulation, and Komdigi has gone as far as summoning infrastructure providers over gambling sites sheltering behind them.
Key facts
- Regulator
- Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs (Komdigi)
- Regulator type
- Government ministry
- Headline tax
- Not yet verified
- Licence required
- Not yet verified
- Minimum age
- Not yet verified
- Tax base
- Not yet verified
- Capital
- Jakarta
- Currency
- IDR
- Official languages
- Indonesian
Advertising
- Advertising permitted
- No
- Affiliate rules
- Affiliates are not separately licensed. Promotion of an offer that is itself unlawful is caught by the underlying prohibition rather than by an advertising code.
- Penalties for breach
- There is no lawful gambling advertising in Indonesia, and enforcement is directed at content and access rather than at advertising standards.
Restrictions
- Online gambling is prohibited, so there is no lawful offer that may be advertised to Indonesian consumers.
- Promotion of gambling is treated as part of the prohibited activity rather than regulated separately.
- The Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs operates large-scale blocking of gambling sites and gambling-related content, including promotional material on social platforms.
- Platforms operating in Indonesia are expected to remove gambling content, which extends the practical reach of the prohibition to intermediaries.
Outlook
There is no realistic prospect of licensing. The live questions are how far enforcement extends into payments and infrastructure providers, and whether platforms are compelled to act proactively rather than on request, which is the same argument playing out in Malaysia.
Frequently asked questions
- Is any form of gambling legal in Indonesia?
- No. Gambling is prohibited for citizens and foreigners alike and there is no licensing regime.
- Who enforces the ban online?
- The Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs, Komdigi, through large-scale website blocking and content removal.
Sources
- Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs (Komdigi)
Government of Indonesia
Tier 1Accessed 22 Aug 2026 - Tier 3Accessed 22 Aug 2026