Sad! Online Gambling is rampant using capital from Pinjol

The trend of online gambling is increasing with easy access to the internet. Initially, they only deposited a small amount, but when they were addicted, they did not hesitate to spend their savings on deposits to online gambling sites.

Even worse, when their savings have run out, they use online loans as capital to play online gambling again. This is a problem that must be taken seriously.

How are online gambling and loans becoming more prevalent in Indonesia? And how to prevent it?

To find out how the trend of online gambling and online loans is increasing its users in Indonesia, we need to find out the growth data, what aspects make online gambling & loan business owners succeed in attracting the interest of Indonesian people? Let's find out the causes of this trend & its prevention through this article.

1. Growth of Online Gambling in Indonesia

It can be said that the growth trend of online gambling in Indonesia is increasing the number of users and the value of transactions. Citing data from the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK), during the 2017-2022 period, there were around 157 million online gambling transactions in Indonesia with a total value of money turnover reaching Rp190 trillion.

The data was obtained by PPATK from the results of tracing and investigating 887 parties included in the online gambling group or network.

Reporting from CNN Indonesia, Monday (26/9/2023), Head of PPATK's Public Relations Bureau Natsir Kongah said; "The turnover of funds in question is the flow of funds for betting purposes, payment of winnings, costs of organizing gambling, transfers between bookie networks, and transactions with the suspected purpose of money laundering carried out by the bookie network."

From the data above, we can see that the number of users and transactions continued to increase from 2017 - 2022. Even though the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (Kominfo) has cut off access or takedown to 60,582 contents indicated by online gambling in September 2023, the fact is that there are still many people who continue to play gambling on online gambling sites.

Also Read: Beware of Cyber Crime and Its Types

2. Online Loans and Their Use for Online Gambling

How are online loans used as a source of capital for gambling? To answer this question, so that the discussion is more in-depth, let's use a sample of online gambling players who have run out of all their money so they are desperate to use pinjol to continue to be able to play gambling.

Reporting from Kompas.com, it is known that a man from Salatiga named Gatot experienced severe financial problems due to his addiction to online gambling.

For information, he is married and has 2 children that he must support as his responsibility as the head of the family.

Because he was aware of his duties as a father, he initially only tried or idly played online gambling in his spare time, nothing more, every payday he only played once with a nominal deposit of Rp. 50,000 - Rp. 200,000 only.

However, as he interacted more and more often and his online gambling playing hours increased, Gatot became more and more addicted, who initially deposited once a month, now does it more regularly, and a day can run out Rp. 500,000 - Rp. 1 million.

Every time he lost online gambling, he was tempted to continue playing, even selling televisions, cell phones, and home goods that could be sold so he could play online gambling.

As a result, he lost again when playing online gambling, his savings were gone, but he still did not want to learn from his mistakes and worsened his family's economy by desperately borrowing as capital to play online gambling again.

He hopes that on his last chance, he can win. The result? As we know, gambling players will always lose to the bookie.

Gatot lost! Savings were exhausted, valuable assets were not left, family needs were not met, and he was entangled in loans that terrorized his family continuously.

3. The adverse effects of using online loans as online gambling capital

From the data presented in point 1 and the sample illustration in point 2, this is the impact that will befall gambling addicts who use online loans as capital to continue their gambling activities:

- Online gambling addicts while trapped in the cycle of loan sharks are at risk of significant financial ruin or bankruptcy.

- The combination of online gambling addiction and unsecured loan debt can cause anxiety, stress, and depression.

- Personal data is at risk of being stolen or used for online fraud by irresponsible people.

4. Preventive Measures That Can Be Taken

The only solution for online gambling and loan sharking addicts is to quit both.

Everyone needs to be aware of the financial risks that will be faced if they get entangled in online lending and gambling.

Hearing the news that many people are addicted to online gambling is sad, especially if the activity uses pinjol money as its capital. Finally, I hope this article can be a reminder to all parties that both entities; pinjol and online gambling, can damage one's personal and financial life, so let's avoid both!