Police Bust Multi-Billion-Rupiah Lottery Gambling Business in Central Java After 12 Years
SEMARANG — Central Java Police have dismantled a lottery-gambling business operating in Demak Regency, Grobogan Regency and Semarang City. The operation was controlled by a man identified by the initials HGP, who has also been arrested. The total funds seized and frozen in connection with the case exceed Rp2.4 billion.
Central Java Police Chief Inspector General Roy Hardi Siahaan said the lottery business in Demak, Grobogan and Semarang had been operating since at least 2014. In Demak, the gambling operation involved Singapore, Hong Kong and Sydney lottery draws. Three suspects were arrested there: YH, TS and TS.
The three suspects were responsible for collecting lottery bets from the public. At the Demak location, police also seized 8,416 betting slips and bank account books linked to the alleged gambling offences.
“We subsequently froze the accounts, which held Rp519,994,712.99. This is money from gambling offences that we can question the suspects about, which belongs to the suspects and which we froze because it is connected to the criminal activity,” Roy said at a press conference at the Central Java Police Water and Air Police Directorate headquarters in Semarang on Tuesday (20 October 2026).
Central Java Police also dismantled a lottery-gambling operation in Semarang City, where five suspects were arrested: HGP, AH, HS, S and TAI. “The modus operandi was for the perpetrators to sell horse-racing lottery tickets to members of the public betting on Singapore, Sydney and Hong Kong numbers,” Roy said.
He added that officers seized various items at the Semarang location, including 43,250 horse-racing lottery tickets and Rp19.6 million in cash. “We also froze five accounts used to hold proceeds from the illegal lottery, totalling Rp1.942 billion,” he said.
The Grobogan operation was uncovered after police arrested two suspects, S and YS, who worked as couriers for a lottery agent. They were paid Rp110,000 a day. “The two delivered lottery tickets and padlocked metal boxes to a number of retailers in Grobogan Regency,” Roy said.
At the Grobogan location, police seized two metal boxes containing 421 bundles of lottery tickets and a Daihatsu Gran Max vehicle. Roy said the suspects had been charged under Article 426 of the Criminal Code, which carries a maximum prison sentence of nine years and a fine of Rp2 billion.