Indonesia: GEO analysis, features and potential
Indonesia is an actively developing country and a relatively new GEO in the betting & gambling verticals. In this material we will talk about the economic potential of this country, the cultural peculiarities of the region, as well as the promotion of gambling in the country.
General information
The basic data on the GEO is given below. The number of Muslims and Internet users is what draws attention first. Lets dive into the data and discuss the these numbers in details.
Market Potential and Status
Indonesia is the biggest country of the South East Asia with a population above 280 million people. Muslims form the overwhelming majority of population, making Indonesia the biggest Islamic country in the world as well.
Indonesian economy is booming thanks to close ties with the neighbors and Western countries. According to the World Bank data, the GDP of Indonesia reached $1,186 trillion which was the seventh biggest in the world. The GDP is expected to keep growing 5–6% each year.
Also, Indonesia is 4th Asian country by the number of Internet Users and almost 90% of the whole population have access to it.
Indonesia possesses enormous digital economy potential. 77,9% of population 15 years and older are constant users of Internet and other information technology. 63,5% of them use the Internet as a time killer while 41,5% of them play online games.
E-commerce in Indonesia is booming. The market revenue is projected to reach $105.6 billion by 2027. By then, the number of users is expected to grow to 237.1 million. Here is why payment methods are changing too:by 2025, bank transfers are expected to be the preferred method of payment for 34% of the population, while 27% of the country's residents will use e-wallets as their primary means of payment.
Apart from that, Indonesia is flourishing as one of the regional leaders in crypto-activity. About 12 million peopleб or 4.5% of the population, store cryptocurrency on exchanges or cold wallets. Approximately 78% of Indonesian cryptocurrency owners are between 18 and 44 years old, and cryptocurrency ownership correlates with income: 41% of Indonesians who own cryptocurrency have an annual income over $14,000.
The most popular RevShare payment methods are given below:
Betting & Gambling Industry in Indonesia: Overview
Gambling in Indonesia
Indonesia used to be a Dutch colony, so the Europeans spread a culture of gambling among the locals. After the decolonization in the middle of the XX, gambling business was legalized. However, since the majority of the country's population were Muslims, under the pressure of the radical part of the community, gambling was gradually banned in the mid 70’s.
As mentioned above, Indonesia is the largest Muslim country in the world, so the attitude towards gambling by officials is generally unfavorable. The situation differs from one region to another, but in general both a player and an organizer can be sent to a jail or even flogged.
However, there is a huge number of casinos, gambling rooms, poker tables and slot machine halls still operating underground. Although the local authorities and police regularly raid them, illegal gambling organizations continue working.
That is why online gambling has become a solution to uphold the tradition without getting into conflict with the authorities. State authorities prefer to turn a blind eye to the rapid growth of online gambling. Moreover, they are issuing annual gambling licenses to different sites in the country.
There is no official regulator to collect data on the gambling market in Indonesia, so it is difficult to assess its scale and prospects. But there are a number of indirect indications suggesting that its potential is huge:
According to various estimates, there are about 5,000 localized gaming sites operating in Indonesia, and their audience growth is 50-80% per year.
The revenue of official casino apps, i.e. available on the AppStore and GooglePlay only excluding other stores and direct downloads from the web, reached $13.13 million in 2022.
The total number of official app downloads by 2022 reached the 32 million mark.
Here’s the diagram showing the ratio of requests dedicated to Betting & Gambling in Indonesia:
Sportsbook occupies 37% of the market;
Live casino occupies 30%;
Slots occupy 26%
Other games – 7%:
Poker – 3%;
Fishing – 2%;
Lottery – 2%.
Betting in Indonesia
Indonesians are very enthusiastic about betting. The country even has a special odds system, which differs from the European and American ones. Therefore, the majority betting platforms not only do Indonesian localization, but also use the local odds system for the convenience of users.
The Indonesian coefficient is similar to the European coefficient and is also spelled out as a decimals. But the values in the Indonesian coefficient can be both negative and positive. Example: negative odds on a win (-2.44) show that you have to bet $2.44 to win $1. Positive odds work as usual.
The most popular sports for betting are soccer, badminton, cricket, cyber sports, basketball, cycling, and sepaktakraw, known as Malay volleyball. Martial arts are also in demand: boxing, muay thai, and pencak silat.
Popular social media and platforms
Most popular social networks:
Facebook — 76.9% of the population (200 million people);
Instagram — 59.3% of the population (150 million people);
TikTok — 19.2% of the population (50 million people);
YouTube — 15.2% of the population (40 million people);
Twitter — 7.6% of the population (20 million people).
Most popular messengers:
WhatsApp — 38.5% of the population (100 million people);
Telegram — 14% of the population (40 million people);
LINE — 3.6% of the population (10 million people);
Facebook Messenger — 2.9% of the population (8 million people);
KakaoTalk — 0.7% of the population (2 million people).
As we can see, Facebook and WhatsApp are the most effective social media and messenger marketing and promotion. Also, Telegram remains an effective means for traffic arbitrage.
Payment Instruments
Indonesian players prefer to make bets and deposits in the classic way with Visa or Mastercard, some of them also prefer e-wallets and cryptocurrency. For GEO Indonesia 1 win can offer:
For deposit: QRIS, Dana eWallet, OVO Wallet, Visa/MasterCard, AstroPay, Perfect Money, bank transfer, cryptocurrencies.
For withdrawal: bank transfer, Dana eWallet, OVO Wallet, Perfect Money, cryptocurrencies.
