Indonesian police recently cracked down on an illegal gambling ring operating through the popular mobile game "Higgs Domino Island," arresting 12 suspects and seizing over 120 computers, with the case involving up to 3.6 billion Indonesian Rupiah (approximately $222,000).
The investigation revealed that since December 2023, the gang had been concealing gambling operations through the game's chip mechanism. On June 19, police in Riau Province raided two locations in North Bangka: a shop where they seized 102 computers and arrested 5 people, and a residential house where they seized 18 computers and arrested 6 individuals. Two days later, the mastermind behind the operation, Jonathan Julian Leslie, was arrested at the airport upon his return from Malaysia.
The police noted that the group's daily earnings were up to 25 million Indonesian Rupiah, with a monthly income of about 750 million Rupiah. The operation was well-organized: one team accumulated bonuses through "chip farming," while another team sold the chips on the black market, exchanging every ten billion chips for 25 million Rupiah in cash.
"Higgs Domino Island" has many players in Indonesia, but its virtual chip trading mechanism has increasingly become a hotbed for illegal gambling. Under the Electronic Information and Transactions Law, the suspects face up to six years in prison and a fine of 1 billion Indonesian Rupiah. The police warn that gaming platforms are becoming a new hotbed for gambling crimes, posing significant risks especially to young people.
