Many Indonesian Citizens Oppose Social Assistance for Online Gambling Players

The Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture (PMK), Muhadjir Effendy, proposed including online gambling players in the Integrated Social Welfare Data (DTKS) as recipients of social assistance (bansos).

He argued that this social assistance would help affected families, as they—especially children and wives—suffer not only material losses but also mental health issues.

"The resulting conditions are the responsibility of the government, especially us at the PMK Coordinating Ministry. We will discuss the mechanism for providing social assistance to families affected by online gambling with the Minister of Social Affairs," said Muhadjir in a statement, as reported by *Katadata*, Monday (17/6/2024).

However, this proposal was rejected by a number of Indonesian citizens. A Kompas Research and Development (Litbang Kompas) survey showed that 71.6% of respondents disagreed with the proposal to provide social assistance to both perpetrators and families of online gambling victims.

“This is certainly problematic because perpetrators of online gambling are highly likely to also come from families who meet the criteria for receiving social assistance,” wrote a Kompas Litbang researcher in their report, Tuesday (25/6/2024).

Furthermore, providing social assistance to perpetrators and families of online gambling victims is also considered to create social jealousy, especially among law-abiding citizens who are not involved in gambling.

On the other hand, 25.6% of respondents agreed that online gambling players should receive social assistance. Another 2.8% responded that they did not know.

The Kompas Litbang survey involved 534 respondents proportionally selected across 38 Indonesian provinces. The survey was conducted from June 18-20, 2024, through telephone interviews.

The survey's margin of error is approximately 4.22% with a 95% confidence level, under conditions of simple random sampling.