Overcoming Online Gambling Epidemic through Vectorization of Public Welfare
Tauhid Nur Azhar
Although in the past 6 months the Ministry of Communication and Informatics (Kemenkominfo) has blocked 800,000 online gambling sites, according to records from the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (PPATK), there were 3,295,310 individuals who engaged in online gambling and made deposits on online gambling sites amounting to IDR 34.51 trillion throughout the year 2023.
Furthermore, the total suspicious turnover of funds related to online gambling in 2023, as identified by PPATK, reached IDR 327 trillion through 168 million transactions.
On the other hand, within the context of probability-based fortunes that intersect with gambling, there is the lottery, which may appear random but actually exhibits commutative, associative, and distributive patterns, as well as certain permutations and combinations that can be analyzed using statistical and mathematical methods.
In fact, there is a feature film that tells the true story of a husband and wife who won a lottery worth hundreds of billions of Indonesian rupiah. Jerry Selbee and his wife, Marge, managed to win the lottery multiple times across two US states over a period of ten years. The money they accumulated from 2003 to 2012 amounted to US$26 million or more than IDR 390 billion.
What was the key to Jerry’s success? It was none other than simple statistical calculations that did not violate the law and could be solved by Selbee relatively quickly.
The retired manager in this agro-industrial company is indeed known for his special skills in mathematical analysis and his ability to identify patterns in lottery drawings.
Returning to the increasing prevalence of online gambling in recent times, it may be correlated with the ease of access facilitated by reliable internet connections, affordability of mobile devices or other gadgets, and intertwined with the dynamic psychosocial conditions.
The process of risking a certain amount of money or valuable items with the chance of losing everything and gaining multiplied profits seems to be effective in triggering an adrenaline rush or an adrenaline flood, which is stimulated by the presence of challenges.
The courage that arises to take risks is sometimes accompanied by a distortion of the ability to think clearly and intuitively, which serves as a subconscious warning mechanism that can act as a controller for impulsive aggressive responses driven by instinctual hormonal urges.
The neurophysiological functions and processes that produce insights and intuition are strongly believed to anatomically reside in the right ventral hemisphere, specifically in the network of the orbitofrontal cortex and the caudate nucleus.
In some cases where individuals can no longer control their impulsive behavior in gambling, they are clinically categorized as having impulse control disorder, which is included in the addictive disorder category in the DSM-5.
Furthermore, citing Potenza, M. N., et al., in Nature Reviews Disease Primers, Vol. 5, №51, 2019, it is known that gamblers are also vulnerable to mood disorders, anxiety, and substance abuse and drug addiction.
In the context of the reward and desire triggered by pseudo-wins during gambling, the mesolimbic pathway of neurotransmitters involving the ventral tegmental area, nucleus accumbens, amygdala, and hippocampus plays a significant role. The flood of dopamine when a gambler experiences a win will drive impulsive responses and suppress the clarity of thought produced by the default mode network function in the medial prefrontal cortex and the cingulate cortex.
Returning to the issue of the prevalence of online gambling, it undoubtedly has an impact on the configuration and structure of the allocation and utilization of circulating money, which should ideally be dominated by productive investment needs aimed at improving economic quality indicators such as increasing purchasing power parity and improving the Gini ratio. These, in turn, have a reciprocal multiplier effect in terms of improving public health and access to education.
The main sector that can be affected is undoubtedly micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs). The money absorbed by online gambling activities is largely the funds of the public that, under normal circumstances, would be spent on related MSME products. This is crucial because before the pandemic, the MSME sector was growing rapidly and began to play a role as the backbone of the national economy.
According to data from the Ministry of Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises (KUKM) in 2018, the number of MSME actors was 64.2 million, accounting for 99.99% of the total business actors in Indonesia. The employment absorption of MSMEs was 117 million workers, accounting for 97% of the workforce in the business world. Meanwhile, the contribution of MSMEs to the national economy (GDP) was 61.1%, while the remaining 38.9% was contributed by large businesses, which numbered only 5,550 or 0.01% of the total business actors.
MSMEs are predominantly micro-enterprises, accounting for 98.68% with a workforce absorption of around 89%. However, the contribution of micro-enterprises to the GDP is only about 37.8%.
The above data is presented in an article written by Edward UP Nainggolan, the Head of Regional Office of the Directorate General of State Assets (DJKN) in West Kalimantan Province. In addition, he also elaborates on various government efforts, particularly through the PEN program, to stimulate the MSME sector post-pandemic.
The government has implemented several policies, including loan interest subsidies, credit restructuring, working capital guarantees, and tax incentives. The allocated funds for these schemes amount to IDR 123.46 trillion.
The interest subsidies are provided to strengthen the capital of MSMEs through the People’s Business Credit (Kredit Usaha Rakyat/KUR) (distributed by banks), Ultra Microcredit (Kredit Ultra Mikro/UMi) (distributed by non-bank financial institutions), and revolving fund disbursement carried out by the Revolving Fund Management Agency (LPDB) under the Ministry of Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises (KUKM).
The government has also allocated around IDR 78.78 trillion to the national banking sector for the purpose of MSME loan restructuring.
The various amounts of stimulus funds for MSMEs post-pandemic, when accumulated, are still lower compared to the value of money circulating in the online gambling business, which was recorded at IDR 517 trillion by the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK) from 2022 to 2023. Out of this amount, IDR 5.1 trillion is suspected to have been transferred to various shell companies in third countries.
It is a significant challenge for us to overcome and manage the various conditions that create a conducive ecosystem for online gambling businesses.
Neuroscience plays an important role because gambling habits and impulsive behavior in most players are part of the neurobiological symptoms of impulse control disorder and addiction. This is particularly relevant when considering other addiction cases intertwined with substance abuse and addiction to online games. There are also specific business processes and algorithms that make digital games like MMORPGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games) so captivating to players and even capable of consuming a significant portion of their daily focus and concentration.
Algorithms based on neurobiology have undoubtedly been carefully studied, and persuasive pathways that can hijack the brain’s biochemical processes governed by specific neurotransmitters such as dopamine and epinephrine have likely been analyzed in such a way that they are not only understood but also modulated or manipulated.
The outcome is attention, interest, challenge, and pleasurable enjoyment, which game play directs towards the physiology of addiction. Addiction that goes beyond control is the origin of addictive disorders, as classified in the DSM-5.
One concrete action that can be taken is designing the development patterns of MSMEs and various productive activities, including investment schemes and community empowerment, using gamification concepts that can trigger challenges, competition, rewards, and cultivate desire. This, in turn, increases motivation and effort in work and endeavors due to the element of joy in playing.
Isn’t it true that in the work of a Dutch scholar born in Groningen on December 7, 1872, Johan Huizinga, the playful nature of humans (Homo Ludens) always emerges alongside their nature as workers (Homo Faber)?
Huizinga, who also wrote “The Autumn of the Middle Ages,” states in his book “Homo Ludens” that the primary elements of culture have their origins in play.
Careful research, particularly in the field of cultural history, shows that the distinction between play and seriousness is often superficial. Cultural history, especially through literary research, reveals that play can also be done very seriously.
Even ancient Greek culture, which appears to be solemn and even divine, is likely to have been inspired by a strong spirit of play.
The development of knowledge, culture, and social systems in ancient Greece demonstrates various models of play and concepts of play in various forms and dimensions.
There is a strong belief that Plato’s dialogues are a form of artistic play. Not only Plato, but also Parmenides, when asked to explain his philosophical concept of human struggle in the construction of civilization, used an enjoyable dialogical concept that involved the participation of all discussion participants.
Therefore, engaging in investment, microcapital distribution, marketplace platform development, and innovative product design could be exciting and addictive if approached like playing Monopoly or certain role-playing games (RPGs) that draw inspiration from competition and business strategy.
Modifications and adjustments to the social credit system can also be made. Good deeds in the social dimension could be rewarded in a way that aligns with dopamine in the mesolimbic system. In essence, we direct all the excesses created towards the same path that leads to impulsive and addictive gambling behavior, and we use them as the catalyst for a snowball effect of goodness. Vectorizing Beneficence.
