Bali casino: an ‘impossible’ dream or economically sound gamble for Indonesia?

Officials have panned the plan but the business group behind the proposal insists that income from the venture could solve a raft of issues on the resort island

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People watch the sunset from a beach in Bali, Indonesia. A business group said building a casino on the island would boost the tourist hub’s income by up to US$809 million. Photo: AFP

Published: 3:00pm, 9 Aug 2024Updated: 4:52pm, 9 Aug 2024

A proposal by a group of young entrepreneurs in Indonesia to build a casino on the island resort of Bali has sparked debate on the feasibility of the plan in a Muslim-majority nation where gambling is illegal.

While officials have dismissed the idea, members of the Indonesian Young Entrepreneurs Association (Hipmi) in Bali, who floated the suggestion on July 12, insist that a Bali casino would boost the island’s income by up to 13 trillion rupiah (US$809 million) to help it tackle a host of problems brought by mass tourism, such as waste.

The topic returned to the spotlight on Monday when tourism and creative economy minister Sandiaga Uno declined it outright. “Firstly, casinos don’t exist [in Indonesia], so let me be clear, there are no such plans,” Sandiaga told reporters.

Nia Niscaya, the ministry’s main expert on tourism, added that gambling in casinos was “prohibited by law, and we are a country of laws so that can’t be done”.

On the same day, Agung Bagus Pratiksa Linggih, chairman of Hipmi in Bali, doubled down on the idea. “Indeed, it is really needed now. Bali’s revenue is around 4 trillion rupiah [US$250.8 million], and Bali has several problems. One of them is waste processing, and we need around 3 trillion rupiah to manage [all] of the waste generated in Bali,” Agung was quoted in media reports as saying.

“If we refer to Singapore, the potential income that Bali will receive [from the casinos] could be up to 12-13 trillion rupiah [US$814.7 million] per year. That’s just from the gambling side, we haven’t talked about hotels, restaurants and also the surrounding economy activities [generated by the casino] and also taxes from employees who work in casinos.”