Indonesians placed over 6 million bets worth around $57 million during the World Cup despite a nationwide crackdown, say government officials.
The claims come from the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK), which claimed online gambling networks had “exploited excitement” surrounding the soccer tournament to drive up sports betting.
At the start of the tournament, the PPATK warned it had detected a sharp uptick in soccer betting.
Per the PPATK, from mid-June to July 2026, the value of online gambling deposits related to the World Cup reached IDR 1.02 trillion, the Indonesian media outlet Republika reported.
Indonesian World Cup Bets: Gov’t Monitors Bank Accounts
The PPATK’s Chairman, Ivan Yustiavandana, said his agency also temporarily suspended World Cup gambling-related transactions from 2,815 accounts.
The accounts hold assets worth IDR 325.43 billion, worth $18.2 million.
All forms of gambling are illegal in Indonesia. However, illegal sports betting portals remain popular in the country.
CasinoBeats saw scores of Indonesian-language soccer betting sites in web searches on August 6. Some boasted they could let patrons place bets using Indonesian bank accounts and QR code-powered fast payment systems.
“The World Cup should have been a moment to enjoy achievements and sportsmanship, not a gateway to gambling,” the PPATK chief said. “Our discovery of over 6 million World Cup-related transactions in one month demonstrates how quickly online gambling networks are capitalizing on big public [events].”
But Yustiavandana also feted his agency’s newfound ability to identify and monitor gambling-related transactions.
“We can now increasingly detect even the smallest suspicious transaction that passes through the financial system,” he added.
Gambling Turnovers Down, While Transaction Volumes Rocket
The PPATK’s data, however, appears to show that state gambling crackdowns have brought mixed results.
In its analysis for the first half of 2026, the agency noted that online gambling turnovers had decreased by approximately 12.9% year-on-year, shrinking from $5.6 billion to under $4.9 billion.
However, while illegal gamblers are betting less money, the frequency of their betting has skyrocketed.
The number of recorded transactions increased by over 167%, with the agency flagging 467.32 million transactions. Deposits also shot up by 26%.
The PPATK said gamblers had changed their patterns and were now betting smaller amounts on a more regular basis. But it said that part of the reason for the rise was the increased efficiency of its detection tools.
Yustiavandana said that the agency and its commercial banking partners were becoming particularly adept at flagging “small-value transactions that are carried out repeatedly.”
Crackdown Continues
The PPATK said it would continue working with the Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs, the central bank, the national police agency, and others as the crackdown continues.
The agency said that it would continue efforts to cut platforms off from the flow of funds and monitor payment systems.
The police force reactivated its Anti-Football Mafia Task Force for the duration of the tournament. The task force has previously mainly focused on allegations of match-fixing in Indonesian soccer games.
Match-fixing allegations have dogged Indonesian pro soccer leagues for years.
Meanwhile, the Indonesian Social Affairs Minister Saifullah Yusuf has announced the government has suspended benefits payments to almost 1.5 million families.
The minister said in each case, at least one member of the family in question has gambled online.
Of that number, almost 800,000 families are recipients of Family Hope Program aid, the media outlet CNN Indonesia reported.
The program provides financial aid to around 10 million low-income households nationwide.
“We are currently investigating these cases,” said Yusuf. “The evidence suggests that recipients used their social assistance payments to gamble online.”
Last month, a court in the city of Surabaya jailed a 26-year-old female Instagram influencer for promoting an online casino on her social media pages.
The influencer made around $112 from three posts endorsing the site.
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