Indonesia arrests 5 foreigners suspected in online gambling syndicate

[ultrloa]

I think it's all related to the how weak the regulations in SEA about the gambling. What they need is a country with no proper gambling regulation. So they can live in the gray area.

I have seen this case in Indonesia several times being exposed in the media and apprehended by the police. I am not trying to blame anyone, but it is always foreign nationals who operate their system. It seems that they intentionally target Indonesia due to the population, and although prohibited, the number of online gambling users from Indonesia is quite significant. This makes them realize that Indonesia is a large and easily influenced market. Remember, Indonesia has a population of over 270 million people.

That country only have strict rules in papers, but their implementation is so weak that's why they became an easy target by those illegal online casinos.

Indonesia have big population this is the reason why, they are one of favorite countries targeted by those illegal operators.

If Indonesia raise the penalty and make the sentence looks so heavy, there a chance that they can possibly lessen up the number of similar cases exist in their country. That recent news still good, since that means the authorities still working despite of having issues about weak law enforcement.

[Miles2006]

Honestly, people still gamble and promote the illegal casino knowing fully well the rule is against gambling and the worst part is this system being operated indoor, no license, this shows the level of carelessness people are willing to go just to gamble without interference.
Maybe they make much money compared to other locations, just an assumption though I’m not sure profit is the only reason these guys decide to operate an illegal casino business in a different country.

[Frankolala]

Honestly, people still gamble and promote the illegal casino knowing fully well the rule is against gambling and the worst part is this system being operated indoor, no license, this shows the level of carelessness people are willing to go just to gamble without interference.
Maybe they make much money compared to other locations, just an assumption though I’m not sure profit is the only reason these guys decide to operate an illegal casino business in a different country.

What else could be the reason apart from profit. Those running illegal business are doing so to make profit for themselves and bypass the law. But these guys didn't think about the implications involved in gambling syndicate. They didn't know that they'd be caught but I believe that they're ready for the consequences attached to it

[Su-asa]

Maybe they are part of the payment provider team or telemarketers, and so on. We understand that they are not operating legally, but we are not certain that the foreigners who are arrested are planning to scam their players either, as they are not the actual owners of the online casino. The thing is that we shouldn't conclude yet whether they are planning on scamming anyone until there is evidence that proves it.

Edit: Lastly, the reason why they are not working in their country might be that they want to place themselves where they could easily get traffic no their site or an environment without much law enforcement.

It's not about scamming their players or not. It's against the law over there. Gambling is prohibited for both locals and foreigners in Indonesia, so any grabbling promotion or activity there is strictly illegal. I think a lot of people over there loves grabbling a lot which is the reason most foreign gambling providers go there to operate illegally, they've handled not less than 700 cases of legal gambling this year alone. I also think there's lots of corruption in that country, illegal gambling schemes wouldn't survive so long without the collaboration of highly placed individuals and locals.

Most people here might think that the foreigners that has been apprehended were doing it illegally because they are planning on scamming their players. If you check most of the first few comments on the first page, you will understand what I'm saying.
However, I also said that one of the reasons why they decided to promote their betting platform in Indonesia is actually because they are after an environment with weaker authority (which, of course, we are already aware of). They also promote their gambling business there because they have a lot of players, since there are few gambling promotions there that operate secretly, as the government made gambling illegal.

[YOSHIE]

Can't they open and operate such from wherever they are? Do they need to live in the country since the casino is illegal and they don’t own any physical office?

Indeed, Indonesia is one of the countries that is targeted by criminals and opens illegal gambling operations by foreign nationals, it is all the fault of the immigration government itself, it is not surprising that Vietnamese, Chinese, or Malaysia to enter easily, because you can use a Visa on Arrival or what people generally know as a residence permit for visits, this is what makes foreigners feel free to live in Indonesia.

There are many reasons why we see how easy it is for foreign nationals to act and how easy it is to open an online casino in Indonesia. In general, Indonesian people are quite easily tempted by instant profits, It's easy to believe in things that involve money, plus in general the Indonesian people are one of the highest cell phone users, making them easy targets for criminals.

[Hispo]

Can't they open and operate such from wherever they are? Do they need to live in the country since the casino is illegal and they don’t own any physical office?

Criminals usually base their operations in countries where they perceive there is a weakest law enforcement and at the same time, where there is a possible illegal market for them to exploit.
In China law enforcement is stronger and more effective than in Indonesia, or at least that is the perception of criminals, so they move there for the opportunity to make money and the smaller chances of getting caught committing a crime.

That is the same reason why there are illegal alcohol brewers in Muslim communities or countries, because it is illegal and there is a lucrative market, if law enforcement happens to be ineffective, then even better for those criminals.

It is quite clear why these Chinese nationals would travel to Indonesia, to start their illegal gambling operation because we all know that China is a very technologically advanced country, and it's only a matter of small time before criminals are caught because of their high tech surveillances. Also I know that China is a no nonsense country, and if criminals are caught in that country they will face severe punishments so I believe that Chinese criminals would feel more comfortable operating from a country that is not technologically advanced like theirs. I believe that illegal gambling would be more lucrative in regions where it is banned or restricted but it also carries it's risks if the perpetrators are caught. It is good that these criminals are exposed and would face the wrate of the law as a deterrent to the ones that are yet to be caught.

There are many criticisms when comes to how China apply justice and sentence their criminals, but there is no doubt they are a highly efficient and technological country which have the ways to prosecute and capture criminals very fast. That is why they indeed move to other countries where there is no so much technology and where there is more corruption.
In China, serious crimes of corruption are dealt with the death penalty, while in third world countries corruption can even be part of the routine of its population.

Gambling here is not illegal, but there are many undergistered small casinos which only survive because our officials are corrupt.

[Crakryptvest]

Honestly, people still gamble and promote the illegal casino knowing fully well the rule is against gambling and the worst part is this system being operated indoor, no license, this shows the level of carelessness people are willing to go just to gamble without interference.
Maybe they make much money compared to other locations, just an assumption though I’m not sure profit is the only reason these guys decide to operate an illegal casino business in a different country.

Obviously there reason for operating gambling illegally is profit, I don't think this should be attributed to carelessness, this is pure desperation, because they are aware of the consequences but because they know that they could be making more profit in that location, there should be further investigation because these guys might not be alone, there are reasons laws are being made, therefore, it doesn't make any sense for people to come and start playing smart in another persons land, I just try to picture how desperate people can be to making profit illegally.

[Gost ms]

Honestly, people still gamble and promote the illegal casino knowing fully well the rule is against gambling and the worst part is this system being operated indoor, no license, this shows the level of carelessness people are willing to go just to gamble without interference.
Maybe they make much money compared to other locations, just an assumption though I’m not sure profit is the only reason these guys decide to operate an illegal casino business in a different country.

Of course, the only reason for running a casino business is to make a profit. There is no such thing as legal or illegal for a person addicted to gambling, they remember one thing that they have to gamble and profit from this place. Such people always face losses and face huge losses while gambling.

The government needs to be strict on these illegal casinos and if the government wants then an illegal casino will not be seen in the country. But maybe there are big people behind this or the government does not give much importance to this issue, that is why we may see this result.

[Charcol]

Perhaps illegal operators go to countries where they think the laws are relatively weak, the costs are low, or it is easy to hire people locally. However, since gambling is an online business, perhaps they can technically run their operations from China, but they may need to be present there to run a large operation. Or it could be that they feel the legal risks in their own country are too high. Perhaps the laws against illegal gambling in China are very strict, which is why they have chosen other countries as a suitable place for them. But my guess is that China has many gambling platforms and casinos, 3x or more than many other countries. Because I often read articles like this online about gambling in China.

[iv4n]

Can't they open and operate such from wherever they are? Do they need to live in the country since the casino is illegal and they don’t own any physical office?

Why not... and maybe they are wanted in their own countries for similar things and they had to move away. Or maybe the law in other countries is not as strict as it is in their own country. All in all, they are not new in this business, and for sure they saw that they can make more money this way... In the end, who cares? What's important is to avoid suspicious casinos, because these guys, or similar ones, are behind it.

Be careful out there... in many ways, the online space can be a real jungle.

[Sobz]

Honestly, people still gamble and promote the illegal casino knowing fully well the rule is against gambling and the worst part is this system being operated indoor, no license, this shows the level of carelessness people are willing to go just to gamble without interference.
Maybe they make much money compared to other locations, just an assumption though I’m not sure profit is the only reason these guys decide to operate an illegal casino business in a different country.

It is possible that gamblers dont even know it is illegal because many gamblers dont read because they are in haste to make money. Definitely one can find out if a casino is illegal by giving attention to read the details of the casino,  but because gamblers dont pay attention they cant even differentiate between an illegal and legal casino. This is not the first illegal casino and their are others that gamblers are actively participating in them without knowing that they are illegal.

[DiMarxist]

It makes zero sense that they probably think that doing such business in a different country means that they can walk around freely and perhaps they ran from their county to Indonesia is because they were looking for a place that doesn't have strict laws forgetting that the country also has restrictions on gambling activities. if they could not do this freely in their country they could have also changed their identity when they got to Indonesia.

Even in countries where there are strict laws on online gambling, there are ways that people still find to get around the system, if this foreigners weren't arrested a lot of people would have been gambling secretly in Indonesia despite thr strict laws they have against gambling. what if these 5 suspects were not the only ones involved in this ?

[DrBeer]

Leaving your own country to a different country to do something illegal is completely wrong, do they even realize that they might probably get caught? Just to see how stupid most people can be. Personally it is very difficult for me to engage myself into anything illegal in my country talk more of doing it outside, who knows how many countries they must have visited earlier before they were caught.

I said it  that the rate at which casinos are been created nowadays is quite questionable, and funny enough some don't even last for a longer time. Probably weeks or month due to the challenges that gamblers are facing while using those site. I'm sure this bodies have a hand in all these scam casinos we have been seeing lately.

As I mentioned earlier, people are willing to take risks for the sake of huge sums of money. But most likely, the situation with gambling in their country of residence or citizenship is worse than in the one they’ve chosen. And here, essentially, there are just two key factors: a much larger loyal audience, and more favorable legislation compared to local regulations in terms of the risks versus the potential earnings.
 
And such "migration" - from the perspective of their "business", seems entirely logical and justified.

[Gozie51]

What I know about China and Indonesia status on gambling is that it is quite restricted in both countries and operating such means it has to be secretive which makes it illegal at some places. So it is not understandable the reason for operating such business in Indonesia if they are also from China, I doubt they are from China. Though op didn't provide the link for proper study and verification.

However in Indonesia, gambling happens to be an illegal activity and punishable up to 9/10 years imprisonment. I have heard of strict adherence of punishment in Indonesia but people keep falling into crime in such country. This is to tell us that crime isn't going away from human society.

[Filicius]

The news and the gossip press in my country have been paying attention to the case of Daniel Sancho for a long time - a Spaniard who committed a murder in Thailand and is serving time in a local jail. The prisons in that country have a terrible reputation, with dozens of prisoners crammed into a few square meters, and in deplorable conditions.

That makes me think that Indonesian prisons may be similarly bad, and that in view of the possibility of being caught they would prefer it to be in China, although the truth is that I suppose that Chinese prisons will not be an amusement park either.

[letteredhub]

The law in Indonesia also prohibit gambling activities in that country just as it is in China. Both online and physical gambling setting are strictly prohibited and anyone caught may likely face a capital charge. It couldn't have being anywhere but where these syndicates believes that they can easily thrive with the illegal gambling service offering and make much profit and then exit the scene before the government could even notice. But it seems luck ran out on this ones.

Some criminals choose countries where there is a high rate of corruption. It would be easier to bribe government officials in Indonesia than in China. In China, bribery could lead to hard punishment that include death sentence. Even in my country, Chinese nationals are known to engage in several unlawful businesses because they can easily get away with it. I hope they will be punished for this offense because they are exploiting the people and the government.

With this which has gone viral I don't think it can be swept under the carpet with any form of bribe because hence it has taken this dimension then public attention and even civil society groups could be interested in the case to see to the end that justice is actually given to serve as deterrent to some other foreigners that may wanna do  same in future.
Any government that doesn't take it justice system seriously but common-ize  corruption, this how foreigners would always take it as a dumping ground for crime and all unlawful practices because they believe they can easily get away with it there than anywhere.

[Botnake]

Honestly, people still gamble and promote the illegal casino knowing fully well the rule is against gambling and the worst part is this system being operated indoor, no license, this shows the level of carelessness people are willing to go just to gamble without interference.
Maybe they make much money compared to other locations, just an assumption though I’m not sure profit is the only reason these guys decide to operate an illegal casino business in a different country.

Maybe they still think that they can make Indonesia an exception so they did not hesitate to promote their gambling business there, but then they were arrested, but I also think they are prepared for it. And I don't believe as well that they have no strong connection prior to getting there, there must be some contacts but maybe it does not work the way they expected it.

Gambling profits are the only main reason, they aren't satisfied yet with their established illegal gambling casinos in other countries so they plan to conquer some parts of Indonesia but it does not work.

[Dogedegen]

I think this is the second time I’m seeing cases of a country arresting foreigners who are said to be operating illegal gambling businesses in the country, which brings me to the question of why someone would leave their own country and go to the country of others just to open up an illegal gambling business.

Can't they open and operate such from wherever they are? Do they need to live in the country since the casino is illegal and they don’t own any physical office?

There are many possible reasons for this and it is hard to say unless we know more about the real motives and backgrounds of the people of each case. You can operate a business from anywhere you are, but think how harder it is to manage things when you are far away and compare that to when you are at the location where it is happening. Even if there are no physical offices it can be harder to do this if there are timezone differences, or people working from everywhere. It also helps being closer to the target market for this kind of operation, and issues that are challenging with legal businesses are much harder in cases like illegal businesses.

Also do we know for sure if they were the owners or only the operators? Because if they were only operates and someone else is owning this and told them to operate from there, then our question and motives completely change!

Gambling profits are the only main reason, they aren't satisfied yet with their established illegal gambling casinos in other countries so they plan to conquer some parts of Indonesia but it does not work.

I don't think the explanation is so simple like this. They could try the same in other countries because in many others there is plenty of profit for gambling, so the question is again why did they pick Indonesia?

[boyptc]

If it's illegal, there's no need for them to own any physical office. They can operate anywhere in the country where they are found because it all takes a couple of computers for that operation.

A room that's full of their staff and computer won't even need to be called a physical office as long as they work there and the company goes on roll.

Illegal but legitimate that is the reason why they need to be present there and I doubt they are the one who are running it, might be just the workers who are doing their part of job while the real owner is spending their day in other part of the world. Also China has many gambling operators which are not regulated but uses social media to spread the name and they mostly use those platforms for money laundering.

And the weird part is no one caught anyone, it seems the ones get caught in the regular searches and reason for it is too many electronic devices.

Exactly. They hire people to run their operation and so the big bosses won't even get caught and can easily monitor them without even physically present in that setup.

I think that their gambling business is just a cover up for the bigger part and that's through washing money.

And they're just popping like mushrooms from the countries where they know they can open easily without compromising themselves.

[Itz-prisigold]

What I know about China and Indonesia status on gambling is that it is quite restricted in both countries and operating such means it has to be secretive which makes it illegal at some places. So it is not understandable the reason for operating such business in Indonesia if they are also from China, I doubt they are from China. Though op didn't provide the link for proper study and verification.

However in Indonesia, gambling happens to be an illegal activity and punishable up to 9/10 years imprisonment. I have heard of strict adherence of punishment in Indonesia but people keep falling into crime in such country. This is to tell us that crime isn't going away from human society.

In my own opinion, just because a country restricts gambling doesn't mean that people will not try to operate it.  While online gambling can be run remotely, the operators might still have to be physically present for certain tasks such as device management, account management or for operating the gambling area from a local location.

That is the reason they will decide to go to another country even though they are fully aware of the risks involved.  The bottom line is that even if a country has some strict rules and serious punishment for breaking those rules,  there are people who will break this rules willingly because they are only focused on potential gains.