Best Indonesia Betting Sites

Indonesia is a country that has a rich history and vibrant culture and is located in Southeast Asia. It constitutes a member of the G20, and its economy is the world’s 16th largest by nominal GDP. It is also the largest island country and the 4th most populous country in the world. Gambling is prohibited in Indonesia.

So there aren’t any legal land-based casinos or betting shops nationwide. Practically speaking, online betting in Indonesia is banned as well. Therefore, there are no legal sportsbooks in Indonesia. However, most of the major international bookies accept local players and provide IDR currency while offering competitive odds on Liga 1 matches.

Best Indonesia Sports Betting Sites

We thoroughly checked which international bookies offer the highest odds, a wide array of Asian bets and handy payments like Help2Pay or Paytrust88. Below, you can find an Asian bookmakers list of the best sportsbooks Indonesia has to offer. They are followed by the list of criteria applied when selecting them.

Gambling in Indonesia - 5 Things to Know

• 1
  No legal land-based betting shops or casinos exist
• 2
  Those who visit illegal gambling houses run the risk of imprisonment
• 3
  There aren’t any licensed online bookmakers
• 4
  Despite being practically illegal, locals use VPN to bet on online bookies
• 5
  Gambling and betting winnings are not taxed

General info

⏩Population: 273.523.615

⏩Active players: 23.500.000

⏩Currency: Indonesian rupiah (IDR)

⏩Regulated gambling products: No regulated gambling products

⏩Operator types: Unlicensed international online bookmakers and casinos

⏩Designated authority: No designated gambling authority

⏩Status: Unregulated

Indo Odds & Asian Handicaps

The first thing that a decent Indonesia-facing online sportsbook should have is Indo odds. These betting odds types are split into negative and positive. Positive odds represent the underdog, and negative odds the favorite. Positive Indonesian odds are similar to decimal odds. The only difference is that you have to subtract 1.00.

Negative Indo odds are similar to American ones, although they have a slight difference. More specifically, you must subtract 1.00 from the decimal odds once again; nonetheless, you have to divide 1 by this specific number. So, Indo Odds = 1 / (European odds – 1). Check, for instance, the odds format table below:

ODDS FORMAT	1	X	2
Indo	-3.33	-1.25	1.10
Decimal	1.30	1.80	2.10
Malay	0.30	0.80	-0.90

Asian handicaps are another distinctive feature of Indonesian betting sites. Therefore, you will find a wide range of Asian Hcap and Totals markets on fixtures of the most popular domestic leagues, such as Liga 1 and the Indonesian Basketball League.

Betting Markets on Popular Indonesian Sports & Leagues

Bookmakers who wish to be among the top in Indonesia should offer a variety of markets on popular domestic sports and on local leagues. Pencak silat is a native martial art created in Indonesia. Sepak takraw (kick volleyball), which originated in Malaysia, is also very popular in the country.

Other than that, Indonesians love sports that are popular at an international level, such as badminton, basketball and football, of course. Liga 1 is the men’s top professional football division and bettors’ favorite league.

Payment Methods Used in the Region

Since gambling is illegal, international bookmakers that operate in the country are aware that players avoid funding their betting accounts with credit or debit cards. Thus, they provide them with various payments that are popular internationally, like Stipcay, and domestically, like Help2Pay and Paytrust88. Both are direct bank transfer methods and are compatible with all the big Indonesian banks.

Website Available in Indonesian

Being able to place your bets on a sportsbook that offers a website which is fully translated into Indonesian is a huge plus. Such a bookie gives you the opportunity to navigate through its webpage in your native language and guarantees you a smooth localized betting experience.

Online Betting in Indonesia: The Gambling Framework

Both offline and online gambling is completely illegal under the strict Law of Indonesia. As mentioned above, there are no legal land-based betting shops or casinos. Due to the overall gambling prohibition a huge black market exists and lots of illegal betting houses and casinos have sprung up all over the country.

However, the police constantly raid these facilities and have shut down hundreds of them in recent years. As regards online gambling laws, Indonesia hasn’t established any. No specific law regarding online betting exists either, and apparently, there aren’t any licensed domestic betting companies.

Up until 2012, the authorities haven’t taken any specific measures in order to ban illegal gambling sites. Nonetheless, in July 2012 the government ordered for the first time local ISP providers to block access to illegal bookies and casinos.

This effort was a collaboration among three ministries. The Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, the Social Affairs Ministry and the Ministry of Religious Affairs.

Illegal Asian Bookies in Indonesia

Right from the start, it should be clear that there are many local bookies who aim to take advantage of Indonesians’ desire to bet on their favorite sports and teams. Such bookmakers are apparently illegal and eventually become scammers when it comes to paying players their winnings.

The main difference between those bookies and the international ones is the way they operate. More specifically, the local ones usually work with agents and credit. This actually means that there is a high risk of not receiving your winnings or even accumulating huge debts; since you are not always required to pay before you bet.

Bola88

Despite the fact that they have a PAGCOR license and try hard to improve their platform; the truth is that they have already built a rather negative reputation among bettors in terms of unpaid withdrawals.

Liga365

The same applies to this bookmaker as with the one mentioned above. All you have to do is a quick Google search, and you will find plenty of negative reviews from punters that had a bad experience with them. It's a bookie that doesn’t even have a PAGCOR license.

Ibosport

Another one of the local illegal online bookies that at least has a license from PAGCOR. Nonetheless, this doesn’t seem able to prevent them from cancelling winnings and closing players’ accounts.

Ligabola

That’s another local brand that doesn’t even have a valid license. It enjoys the same negative publicity among local punters as the bookies mentioned above. Why would anyone trust, after all, a betting site that is agent-based? 

Dewacash

Here’s a bookie that doesn’t even try to look legit. It promises huge welcome bonuses in order to make new players deposit funds, and then they don’t honour those bonuses or even apply ridiculous wagering requirements on them.

Bet88

Give just one quick look at this website, and you will be able to tell there’s something wrong. There’s absolutely no license indication. Moreover, there’s no pre-login selection on its main menu for viewing the betting markets.

Rumahbet88

That bookie claims that it offers many benefits to potential players. However, the truth is that even though it owns a PAGCOR license and provides several local deposit options, it doesn’t have a good reputation for paying winnings.

What Should Indonesian Gamblers Know

Except for the aforementioned bookies, and despite the general ban on online gambling sites, reputable international bookmakers, like Bet365 and Betfair, accept players who reside in Indonesia. While Bet365 operates on mirror sites; the easiest and safest way to bypass potential ISP blocks is through the use of VPN software.

Several local players manage to gamble online thanks to it. No specific Indonesia gambling law exists, and no tax applies on online gambling winnings. Bear in mind, though, that you should avoid all land-based betting premises, as they are definitely illegal. Plus, you will most probably get arrested and even get imprisoned for 3-5 years if you get caught placing your bets there;

regardless if you are a local or a foreigner living in the country. On the contrary, there aren’t any reports of online bettors being prosecuted. However, when it comes to betting, Indonesia isn't the most player-friendly place. Therefore, you should better stick to e-wallets when funding your account; in order to protect your online privacy and keep your anonymity.

How to Bet Online in Indonesia

With all the restrictions that are in place, you should be very careful and avoid depositing funds to your account via credit or debit cards issued by any of the top Indonesian banks (i.e. Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI), Bank Mandiri and Bank Central Asia (BCA)). The most popular payments offered by local bookies are OVO, GoPay, FastPay, FasaPay and iBank88.

As regards international sportsbooks, Help2Pay and Paytrust88 are the two local payments that they provide. Both are direct bank transfer methods compatible with all the big banks in Indonesia. No fees apply. Nevertheless, you might experience issues on some transfers if the bank checks the source of your money.

Thus, if you want to enjoy a totally riskless betting experience; we would advise you to stick to globally known e-wallets, such as Skrill, Neteller and EcoPayz. Cryptocurrencies are also a great alternative for both your deposits and withdrawals. Among others, you will find several Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin betting sites operating in the country. 

List of Bookmakers Accepting Indonesian Rupiah (IDR)

If you’re looking for an Indonesia bookie that not only accepts local players but also offers them the opportunity to bet by using their local currency, then here you are. Being able to deposit funds to your account in the local currency is very important; since you manage to avoid exchange fees. So, below you can find the complete list of bookies offering the IDR currency.

Legal Framework for Gambling in Neighboring Countries

You will always benefit from studying neighbouring countries' gambling regulations. Despite the distance, you will find that different laws exist. Which country is more lenient? Can you avoid the restrictions? Let's see some practical examples: 

⏩ Malaysia: Authorities have tried to diminish the number of local sportsbooks that are open to players. Nonetheless, there are dozens of international Malaysia bookmakers that welcome registrations and offer their services in the local language or currency. 

⏩ Thailand: Apart from horse racing and lottery, all forms of gambling are illegal in the country. However, the laws around online gambling are vague. This is why a large number of international Thailand betting sites have emerged to take advantage.  

⏩ Philippines: Gambling is perfectly legal in the country. Not only that, but there is also the First Cagayan Gambling Authority that issues a license to online operators. Follow our guide to find which are the top betting sites in the Philippines. 

The Future of Online Gambling in Indonesia

Since 2012, when the government authorized for the first time ISPs to block access to gambling sites in Indonesia; things have taken a turn for the worse, in terms of gambling market regulation. Some believe that there might be a chance that the government will legalize gambling in the future and establish a modern gambling law in Indonesia.

However, the truth is that locals will most probably not be able to gamble legally anytime soon. This is due to the fact that the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology is about to develop a web crawler that will seek out online gambling sites and prevent players from accessing them.

The machine will be ready in 2021 and it will allow the government to block the aforementioned websites directly. Consequently, the future of online gambling in Indonesia looks anything but bright for the time being.