Legal Studies: Law as a Deterrent Effect for Gambling Criminals I Gusti Gede Maha Andika Jaya 1 , Faisal Santiago 2 , Zudan Arief Fakrulloh 3 {dr_gustigede@yahoo.com 1 ; faisalsantiago@borobudur.ac.id 2 , cclsis@yahoo.com 3 } Universitas Borobudur, Indonesia Abstract. At present, gambling is in an alarming stage. The development of gambling is getting faster and more varied, although the crime of gambling is a prohibited activity and is subject to sanctions, this crime is difficult to eradicate. In connection with the mentality of the community to pursue material in a fast and easy way, so choosing gambling is used as an alternative. Overcoming the crime of gambling must be done with repressive and preventive efforts that run in balance. Gambling is considered normal in society, so counselling needs to be done and a deterrent effect is needed for perpetrators and a fear effect is needed. In the criminal justice system, the police are gatekeepers, so they have a central role in overcoming gambling. The criminal justice system starts from the Police, so preventive and repressive efforts are needed to tackle the crime of gambling. Keywords: countermeasures; crime; gambling 1 Introduction Gambling is a violation of religious norms, decency, morals, and the law that poses a grave threat to community, nation, and state life. Because it has become accepted as a normal occurrence, the community frequently engages in a variety of forms of gambling, both covertly and openly. Gambling is a serious offense from a legal standpoint that deeply disturbs the community. There are several problems that arise as a result of this gambling is that people will become addicted that can not stop and eventually lose a lot of money and property. So, gambling is very detrimental to oneself and society because in addition to poisoning one's soul, it can also poison the economy of the community at large. In addition to losing money, mental and health can also encourage gamblers to become lazy, which in turn will trigger other crimes such as stealing, corruption, and even murder. Based on the consequences or bad effects caused by gambling, many countries prohibit gambling by imposing severe sanctions. Gambling is called a crime and a crime that is the obligation of all parties to eradicate it to the highest level. Because basically there are laws and regulations that prohibit gambling, namely the Criminal Code. Being aware of the risks and having certain expectations regarding game events, matches, competitions, and events whose outcomes are uncertain constitutes gambling, which is betting on purpose and entails risking something of value [1]. In the broadest sense of the word, it includes gambling games as well as all games that generally have the possibility to win depending on chance or fate, even though the possibility of winning can also increase due to the practice or skill of the player. Apart from that, it includes gambling games as well as all bets in horse racing, football competitions, betting between people who do not participate in the MIC 2022, November 12, Semarang, Indonesia Copyright © 2023 EAI DOI 10.4108/eai.12-11-2022.2327269