Illegal online gambling operations across Southeast Asia are contributing to a wider criminal environment that exposes young people to debt and increases their vulnerability to recruitment by organized crime groups, a new United Nations assessment has warned.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) examined the issue in its latest report, “An Interconnected Criminal Ecosystem: Transnational Organized Crime Threat Assessment for Southeast Asia 2026,” (pdf), released on July 21. The assessment links illegal gambling operations with cyber-enabled fraud and underground financial networks, while also examining connections with human trafficking.
The findings describe a regional illegal gambling sector that…