Indonesia’s Foreign Affairs Ministry has reported a sharp rise in nationals moving to Cambodia to work in the online gambling industry.
According to statistics cited by the Jakarta Globe, it’s expected that some 123,000 Indonesians entered Cambodia by September 2024, while Cambodian authorities say about 89,000 hold residence permits in the country.
During a press conference on Monday, Judha Nugraha, Director of Indonesian Citizen Protection, indicated that many of those voluntarily moving to the country were also being attracted by online gaming operators offering lucrative jobs managing online scams.
This comes even as online gambling within Indonesia, while illegal, is on the rise.
According to Indonesia’s Online Gambling Task Force, there are some 4 million online gamblers in the country, including 80,000 children under 10 and 440,000 aged 11-20.
Gambling-related transactions in the nation in the first three quarters of this year totaled IDR280 trillion ($17.5 billion), while circulating funds from online gambling could reach IDR980 trillion ($61.17 billion) for FY24, much of which flows out to Thailand or Cambodia.
Nugraha noted that “Clearly, there needs to be a coordinated effort among all stakeholders in Indonesia to prevent this issue from spreading further in society”.
