Indonesian authorities have detained more than 300 foreign nationals in Jakarta as part of a major crackdown on illegal online gambling operations, underscoring the country’s intensifying efforts against illicit gambling and related financial crimes.
Police said the arrests followed a raid on a building in the Indonesian capital on May 7th, where authorities allegedly uncovered an active online gambling operation targeting players outside Indonesia.
A total of 321 foreign nationals were detained during the operation, according to police official Wira Satya Triputra. Those arrested included 228 Vietnamese nationals, 57 Chinese nationals, 11 Laotians, five Thai nationals, and three each from Cambodia and Malaysia. Authorities also seized mobile phones, passports, laptops and computer equipment during the raid.
Police stated that 275 of those detained are facing charges linked to gambling and money laundering offenses, while investigations into the remaining individuals are ongoing. “We caught the perpetrators red-handed, meaning they were conducting an online gambling operation,” Wira said during a press conference.
Preliminary investigations suggest the operation had only been active for around two months and was targeting customers outside Indonesia, although authorities did not specify which jurisdictions were involved. Indonesia maintains strict anti-gambling laws, with penalties extending not only to operators and bettors, but also to individuals promoting gambling-related content online. Despite the prohibition, authorities continue to battle widespread illegal online gambling activity across the country.
Official data cited by authorities indicated that turnover linked to online gambling exceeded IDR280 trillion ($16.1 billion) in 2025, with more than 12 million Indonesians estimated to have participated in illegal gambling activities.
The Jakarta arrests come amid broader regional enforcement efforts targeting cross-border cybercrime and illicit online operations. Indonesian authorities have previously warned that criminal groups displaced by crackdowns elsewhere in Asia have increasingly shifted operations into Indonesia and neighboring Southeast Asian jurisdictions.
Separately this week, immigration authorities in Batam, located in Indonesia’s Riau Islands province, detained 210 foreign nationals suspected of involvement in an investment scam operation. Earlier this year, Indonesian police also raided two villas in Bali and arrested 39 Indian nationals allegedly connected to an illegal online gambling operation.
