The Save Our Soccer Coordinator Will Write to Jokowi if the League 1 Gambling House Case Is Not Followed Up

– Save Our Soccer (SOS) coordinator, Akmal Marhali stated that he would send a letter to President Joko Widodo if the gambling house case in Liga 1 was not followed up. Akmal made this statement after his report regarding advertisements and sponsorship of gambling houses in League 1 was not received by Bareskrim Polri on Wednesday (12/7/2023).

“If there is no follow-up, I will write a letter to the president,” said Akmal.

Akmal reported Persikabo 1973, PSSI, and PT Liga Indonesia Baru (PT LIB) regarding advertising and sponsorship of gambling houses. Persikabo is considered to have a gambling house sponsor named SBOTOP on their jersey.

However, Persikabo claims to use the sponsor as a “news portal sponsor” by adding the word “net”. In fact, according to Akmal, SBOTOP is clearly a gambling house site.

He also highlighted the presence of League 1 matches included in the betting exchange on the site. Regarding PSSI and PT LIB, Akmal believes that the two organizations must be held accountable. Gambling house advertisements can also be found on billboards for several Premier League matches this season.

“Why do I say PSSI? Because PSSI is the legal umbrella for Indonesian football. The organization that oversees Indonesian football. The second is PT Liga Indonesia Baru, because on February 25 2020, PT Liga Indonesia Baru issued a circular to all clubs, be it Liga 1 , Liga 2 and Liga 3, number 103, which states that Liga Indonesia participants are prohibited from engaging in commercial cooperation with the first three products, namely cigarettes, liquor and gambling houses. Because this is prohibited by law,” explained Akmal.

Akmal emphasized that the handling of gambling house cases in football must be firm. Gambling is expressly prohibited in the constitution.

“The law regarding gambling, for example, number 9 of 1974/2016 concerning gambling and money laundering, and the law regarding the country, still prohibits gambling from circulating in Indonesia. In addition, in 2021, the National Police Chief via telegram conveys to all Regional Police Chiefs in Indonesia to We will strictly enforce all gambling and gambling derivatives so that they are not circulated in Indonesia. This means that the legal framework is clear. Now we hope that gambling circulating in League 1, such as the sponsors of the SBOTOP gambling house, can be banned and completely repealed,” he said.

The report submitted by Akmal was not received by Bareskrim because a similar case had been handled by the Anti-Mafia Bola Task Force. Previously, the gambling house case was reported by Rio Johan Utama on August 22 2022 with the report number STTL/301/VIII/2022/Bareskrim with LP/B/04378/2022/95/SPKT/Bareskrim. The parties reported in the gambling house case were PSIS Semarang, Persikabo 1973, and Arema FC. In addition, PT LIB as the operator of the League 1 competition and PSSI were also reported.

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