{"id":503994,"date":"2026-05-26T20:21:24","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T20:21:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/503994\/"},"modified":"2026-05-26T20:21:24","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T20:21:24","slug":"indonesia-bans-polymarket-after-trading-on-president-prabowo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/503994\/","title":{"rendered":"Indonesia Bans Polymarket After Trading on President Prabowo"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"post-content__sub-title\">\n        Posted on: May 25, 2026, 02:14h.\u00a0\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"post-content__sub-title\">\n        Last updated on: May 26, 2026, 04:30h.\n    <\/p>\n<p>                <img loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Avatar photo\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1779826883_469_cropped-4-1-50x50.png\"  class=\"avatar avatar-50 photo\" height=\"50\" width=\"50\" decoding=\"async\"\/>            <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Prediction market Polymarket is no longer legally accessible in Indonesia<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>The Indonesian government has labeled Polymarket as an illegal gambling platform<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>The ban follows Polymarket offering trading on the president\u2019s political longevity\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"p1\">Indonesia is continuing its crackdown on illegal gambling by blocking access to prediction market Polymarket.<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-post-thumbnail-858xAUTO wp-image-386019\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/shutterstock_2686324365-858x572.jpg\" alt=\"Indonesia President Prabowo Subianto Polymarket\" width=\"858\" height=\"572\"  \/>Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto attends the 80th anniversary celebration of the Indonesian National Armed Forces at the National Monument in Jakarta on Oct. 5, 2025. Prediction market Polymarket has been banned in Indonesia after offering trading on when Prabowo might lose power. (Image: Shutterstock)<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Gambling is illegal in Indonesia, though backroom wagering and online websites have for many years provided Indonesians with options. However, the government under President Prabowo Subianto has more strongly enforced the gambling prohibition.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The global rise of prediction markets, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/supreme-court-will-field-case-about-prediction-markets\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">online exchanges<\/a> that allow users to trade shares of the possible outcomes of future events, has been under intense scrutiny in Jakarta. After Polymarket recently began offering trades on when Prabowo would be \u201cout as president,\u201d the executive branch acted.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">On Friday, the Red and White Cabinet\u2019s Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs \u201cofficially severed access\u201d to Polymarket. The office did not cite the controversial trading on the president\u2019s future, but instead said the decentralized crypto-based prediction market platform was engaged in illegal online gambling.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cPlatforms facilitating money-based betting on specific outcomes or events remain classified as online gambling, even if packaged as a prediction market, including those utilizing blockchain technology or crypto assets,\u201d the Communication and Digital Affairs Ministry release read.<\/p>\n<p>Indonesia is the world\u2019s fourth most populous country.<\/p>\n<p><b>Presidential Popularity<\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Prabowo comes from an elite Indonesian family, with his grandfather the founder of the state bank. Prabowo was also married to Titiek Suharto, the daughter of former President Suharto.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Prabowo won the 2024 presidential election with 59% of the vote. Initially popular, Prabowo has fielded criticism for rolling out a plan to centralize state control over the country\u2019s most prized commodity exports, namely coal and palm oil. Prabowo has also created opponents for his lavish spending on populist programs, such as free school meals.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong>The rising opposition in Indonesia prompted Polymarket to take bets on the president\u2019s staying power. Polymarket traders put the odds of Prabowo being out as president by May 31 at just 1%. By June 30, the odds only increase to 2%, but by the end of the year, traders give it an 11% chance.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The Polymarket contracts have only fielded $51,531 in nominal trading volume as of this afternoon (May 25). Still, the Prabowo government took issue with the markets and banned Polymarket.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"main-blockquote\">\n<p class=\"p1\">The government will not provide any space for any form of online gambling in Indonesia. Activities such as Polymarket contain elements of monetary betting and speculation on events with uncertain outcomes; therefore, they contravene the laws currently in force in Indonesia,\u201d said ministry spokesperson Alexander Sabar.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"p1\">As for other global prediction markets, the Communication and Digital Affairs Ministry said its review is ongoing.<\/p>\n<p><b>Online Gambling Onslaught<\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Indonesia continues to probe websites that might be violating the country\u2019s gambling ban.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Earlier this month, the Indonesian National Police <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/illegal-online-gambling-bust-indonesia-results-arrests\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">arrested 321 foreigners<\/a> on allegations of running at least 75 criminal online gambling enterprises. Most of those arrested were Vietnamese.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cThe Ministry of Communication and Digital urges the public to refrain from accessing or participating in digital betting-based activities, including those involving crypto assets\u2026 The Ministry continues to strengthen its supervision of the digital space and coordinate with law enforcement agencies and relevant stakeholders to ensure that the national digital ecosystem remains safe, healthy, and productive for the public,\u201d the release concluded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Posted on: May 25, 2026, 02:14h.\u00a0 Last updated on: May 26, 2026, 04:30h. Prediction market Polymarket is no&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":503995,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[276],"tags":[715,18,76431,218929,135,19,7088,94493,17,62232,167,502,30610,15346,218930,29879,218931,55386],"class_list":["post-503994","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mental-health","tag-crime","tag-eire","tag-gambling-ban","tag-gambling-law","tag-health","tag-ie","tag-indonesia","tag-indonesian","tag-ireland","tag-kalshi","tag-mental-health","tag-mentalhealth","tag-online-gambling","tag-polymarket","tag-prabowo","tag-prabowo-subianto","tag-prediction-market","tag-prediction-markets"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116642743061280190","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503994","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=503994"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503994\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/503995"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=503994"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=503994"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=503994"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}