With the increase of
online poker game popularity in Indonesia, the government has imposed tough
regulatory measures to control the increasing number of players and casinos. In
Indonesia, the act prohibits both online poker game sites and live casinos from
accepting wagers or paying players through credit cards. Although most of the
players in Indonesia are either Chinese or foreigners, a relatively small
percentage of the population usually wagers real currency. However, the recent
policy implemented by the Indonesian government does not only target online
poker game sites, but also online gambling in general.
The first piece of
regulation was the establishment of a regulatory body for online gambling.
Since last year, the Indonesian cabinet has been meeting regularly to discuss
and formulate policies that will effectively combat online poker websites from
offering their services in Indonesia. Recently, the Indonesian stock exchange
has suspended trading for three days due to the ongoing issue with online Poker88 sites. Several countries including Australia, Ireland and New Zealand have also
banned online poker in response to the increasing concerns from governments and
other organizations. The closure of online poker rooms in these countries
caused heavy losses for their respective players and casino owners.
The second regulation
is related to online poker game payment processing. As discussed, most of the
online poker game players in Indonesia are usually from China, India or some
other Asian countries. Because of the lack of currency exchange facilities,
players from these countries need to pay in their home currency in order to
withdraw their winnings. This requirement makes online poker game payment
processing more complicated and time consuming for online poker companies. In
Indonesia, the online poker companies have had to face difficulties in
accepting payments from players whose currency would not be accepted by the payment
gateways of their casinos.
Another regulation is
related to the maintenance of online poker game software. According to the law,
any online poker game company must retain and distribute the poker software
belonging to its active players. This means that, a company that offers online
poker to 30 people will have to create and distribute to its players certain
licensed poker software. It can be downloaded free of charge from the online
poker company website but its maintenance is charged per download. Therefore,
it can be seen that online poker companies require large investments to pay for
this license and maintain it.
Lastly, online poker
companies are obliged to inform and provide financial and other related
information to the public. This information includes player profiles, rules,
house rules, bonuses and so on. Online poker companies are not obliged by law
to disclose the names of their clients, but they are obligated under public law
to provide certain information. For example, online poker game company names,
their registered office and their location are some of the information that an
online poker game participant is entitled to get.
Despite the many
regulations imposed on online poker game companies, there are still certain
unlawful activities online that can lead to serious criminal consequences. The
use of bots is considered to be one such activity. Bots are computer
applications that are used by online poker companies to manipulate the number
of people playing in an online poker game. A number of online poker sites allow
their players to select bots that match their skill level. However, if you are
not careful, then these bots can affect the odds of winning in online poker
games.
No comments:
Post a Comment