Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – In a working meeting with the Directorate General of Budget of the Ministry of Finance at the House of Representatives Commission XI, Thursday (8/5/2025), a member of the Parliament from the Golkar Faction, Galih Kartasasmita, suggested that Indonesia imitate the Arab state that runs the casino. This aims to add new objects of non -tax state revenue.
“Sorry, I didn’t want anything, but yesterday I wanted to run casino, try the Arab country run casinos, they mean they are out of the box That’s the ministry and institution, “he said, last Thursday.
The opening of the casino in Indonesia is actually not new. History records, casinos have been officially opened in the country and provide huge benefits to the government. This incident occurred in 1967 in Jakarta.
At that time, the Governor of Jakarta, Ali Sadikin, faced complicated challenges in building the capital. Many infrastructure and various large projects have not been built because of the lack of budget. On this basis, Ali Sadikin must find ways to increase the budget, one of which, through the legalization of gambling.
Koran Sinar Harapan (September 21, 1967) proclaimed, this policy was carried out so that gambling is no longer carried out secretly. By localizing gambling to a special area, the government hopes to get a flow of funds from gambling results.
The government records the benefits of illegal gambling reaching Rp300 million every year. Unfortunately, such a large amount of funds did not flow to the government, but rather to the hands of the elements who carried out protection.
“The money fell into the hands of gambling protectors without being felt by the community,” the DKI Jakarta government told Sinar Harapan.
The government wants money from gambling to be used to build bridges, streets, schools to hospitals. Finally, on September 21, 1967, the DKI Jakarta government legalized gambling through Decree of the Governor of the Regional Head Chusus of the Capital of Djakarta No. 805/A/K/BKD/1967.
Daily Compass (November 23, 1967) explained, the location of the first legal casino in Jakarta and Indonesia was in the Petak Sembilan area, Glodok. This casino stood in collaboration with the DKI Jakarta government with a Chinese citizen named Atang.
This casino arena is open every day without stopping and is tightly guarded by the police. However, gambling is only shown for Chinese citizens or Chinese descent in Indonesia. Indonesian citizens are not allowed to bet on the gambling table.
Since opening, Compass Reporting, the casino at Petak Sembilan was visited by hundreds of people from all over Indonesia. Starting from Medan, Pontianak, Bandung, to Makassar. Hundreds of people successfully generated millions of rupiah funds that were deposited every month to the government.
“Based on official statistics from the gambling arena, the tax given to the government is Rp. 25 million every month,” said Compass.
Nominal Rp. 25 million at that time was quite large. Gold price, according to newspaper Archipelago (August 15, 1967), reached Rp230 per gram. That is, Rp. 25 million can buy 108.7 kg of gold.
If converted to the present, it means that Rp. 25 million or 108.7 kg of gold is equivalent to Rp200 billion. Thus, the profits of the DKI Jakarta government at the beginning of the legalization of casinos reached billions of rupiah per month.
Over time, the casino was also opened in Ancol who also both gave large funds to the government. From gambling funds, Ali Sadikin immediately used it for the development of Jakarta. Bridges, hospitals, until successful schools are built.
During the 10 years of gambling regulations, the Jakarta budget from the beginning of tens of millions jumped to Rp122 billion in 1977. Billions of money were finally used to turn Jakarta into a modern city. Until finally, the casino legalization policy in Jakarta ended in 1974 because the central government banned gambling through Law No.7 of 1974.
(mfa/sef)
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