Indonesia: 200,000 Children Exposed to Online Gambling

Kyle Kevin

iGaming Writer

Fact Checked

80,000 of them are under ten years old. Indonesia’s education council says blocking platforms is not enough.

Around 200,000 Indonesian children have been exposed to online gambling. That estimate comes from the Communications and Digital Affairs Ministry, known as Komdigi. Roughly 80,000 of them are under the age of 10. Indonesia’s National Education Council for Elementary and Secondary Education has now called for government action. The council, DPN Dikdasmen, says online gambling and illegal online lending are spreading through schools. It wants concrete measures to protect both students and teachers. According to the council, current regulations are not enough. Blocking platforms addresses the supply. It does not address why people turn to them.

The Scale of Child Exposure to Online Gambling

The under-10 figure is the one that stands out. Komdigi’s estimate puts 80,000 Indonesian children below the age of ten in contact with online gambling. The total exposure estimate reaches around 200,000 children. Social media is the main vector. Gambling content circulates on mainstream platforms children already use. That makes exposure passive rather than sought out. A child does not need to look for gambling to encounter it. DPN Dikdasmen chairman Suyanto called the impact on students alarming. According to Suyanto, gambling can impair concentration and lead to addiction. He said it may disrupt cognitive development and raise the risk of criminal behaviour. Those are the council’s stated concerns, offered as grounds for policy action rather than as published research findings. However, the underlying exposure numbers come from a government ministry. The scale alone justifies attention. Indonesia’s wider enforcement effort features in our report on Indonesia’s illegal gambling crackdown.

Teachers, Debt and Online Gambling

The council links two problems deliberately. Illegal online lending and online gambling are treated as one threat. The Financial Services Authority, or OJK, reported that teachers made up 42% of illegal online lending victims in 2024. Students accounted for another 3%. Those figures reframe the issue. Teachers under financial strain are the primary target, not an incidental one. According to Suyanto, teachers trapped in illegal debt suffer financial and psychological stress. He said that stress can undermine motivation and teaching performance. So the harm reaches classrooms indirectly as well as directly. Suyanto also identified a common misconception. He said many teachers, parents, and guardians see online loans and gambling as answers to financial pressure. In practice, he argued, both deepen the hardship. That observation matters for policy design. If financial desperation drives the behaviour, blocking sites alone will not stop it. As a result, the council frames economic vulnerability as the root cause.

What the Council Wants

The recommendations target causes, not just access. DPN Dikdasmen acknowledged the government’s blocking efforts. However, Suyanto said current regulations remain insufficient. They fail to protect teachers, students, and parents, or to address the financial pressures behind the behaviour. The council put five proposals to the Education Ministry. First, stronger financial literacy programmes for teachers. Second, expanded school cooperatives offering safe, affordable financial services. Third, partnerships with philanthropic organisations to help teachers in severe hardship. Fourth, improved school counselling for students affected by online gambling. Fifth, family-based education helping parents supervise children’s online activity. The pattern is consistent. Each measure attacks either financial vulnerability or the support gap around it. According to Suyanto, the council hopes Indonesia’s education system can recover and be shielded from these digital threats. The counselling and self-exclusion angle connects to our report on gambling self-exclusion education.

Pressure on the Platforms

Indonesia has also pressed social media companies directly. Communications and Digital Affairs Minister Meutya Hafid has called on platforms to take greater responsibility. She named Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube. Her demand was that they remove gambling-related content. Hafid framed the issue in stark terms in May. She said the public had shared many distressing accounts. According to Hafid, the problem is not merely financial but concerns children’s futures and family wellbeing. She called for a collective effort to stop it. That places platform accountability alongside the education council’s proposals. The two approaches address different points in the chain. Platforms control distribution. Schools and families control resilience. However, gambling is illegal in Indonesia, which is why the entire market operates offshore and outside any local safeguard. Trade coverage of Asian gambling regulation, including AGBrief, tracks these enforcement efforts. Similar prohibition dynamics appear in our report on Bangladesh’s online gambling ban.

Frequently Asked Questions

This article has been thoroughly researched and reviewed by the CasinoBait editorial team to ensure accuracy and relevance for Asian casino players.