Asia has rapidly emerged as the world’s most dynamic iGaming frontier. From glitzy brick-and-mortar 바카라s in Macau and Manila to sprawling online gambling platforms accessed via smartphones, the continent offers almost every flavour of gaming entertainment—betting, poker, eSports, live dealer games, and more.
With a young, mobile-first population and fast-growing digital payment systems, it’s little surprise that Asia’s iGaming industry has ballooned in value. As of 2025, the region’s gross gaming revenue (GGR) is conservatively estimated to be between $25 billion and $30 billion. However, the real figures may be significantly higher due to vast volumes of unregulated or offshore activity—particularly in countries like China, India, and Indonesia.
Yet, amid this fast-paced growth, the sector faces a shadowy and escalating problem: fraud. Asia’s iGaming market is sharply divided between regulated business-to-business (B2B) hubs, such as the Philippines and Cambodia, and murky, grey, or offshore markets. In regulated terrains, operators follow clear licensing procedures, with oversight from local authorities like PAGCOR (Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation).
In contrast, vast segments of consumer traffic come from markets where online gambling is either restricted or operates in a legal grey zone. These include China, where cross-border gambling is criminalised, and India, where laws vary by state. Indonesia, Pakistan, and Bangladesh also feature prominently—both as a high-demand market and a fraud hotspot.
An estimated 8 to 10 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) is expected regionally, fuelled by the popularity of sports betting, live dealer experiences, and digital-first engagement. But to scale sustainably, operators must tackle a sophisticated wave of fraud risks that are now hitting the industry hard.
Fraud rates surge in Southeast Asia
Between 2022 and the first quarter of 2024, global iGaming fraud increased by 64 percent year-on-year. Fraud attempts as a share of user onboarding applications rose from 0.4 percent to 1.1 percent worldwide, with Asia showing higher-than-average surges.
Asia continues to report the highest fraud rates in the global iGaming industry, according to recent data from Sumsub. The region recorded a fraud rate of 3.49 percent in early 2025—marking the second year in a row that Asia has topped global charts for iGaming fraud.
In comparison, Europe reported a much lower fraud rate of 1.16 percent during the same period. Meanwhile, Latin America is seeing a sharp rise in fraud, with over 30 percent year-on-year growth between 2023 and 2024. As per the report, this spike is largely tied to recent regulatory changes in the region. Brazil, in particular, has emerged as a deepfake hotspot, with fraud rates five times higher than in the United States and ten times higher than in Germany, as scammers test the limits of new compliance systems.
Indonesia posted one of the highest fraud rates in Asia at 8.46 percent in Q1 2025, followed by Bangladesh at 7.51 percent. Fraud levels in Pakistan (6.1 percent) and South Korea (6.6 percent) were also significantly higher than the global average. To put that into perspective, nearly one in every 12 iGaming applicants in Indonesia was flagged as fraudulent during the first quarter alone.
The findings highlight the growing challenge facing operators in the region, where evolving fraud tactics increasingly match strong demand.
The rise of Deepfakes & AI
Fraud tactics are evolving rapidly, with an increasing reliance on artificial intelligence. Between 2022 and 2023, the number of deepfake attempts in online gaming verification increased tenfold. By early 2024, deepfake-related fraud accounted for 0.79 percent of all detected fraud cases, up from just 0.03 percent in 2022. Additionally, operators report that 78 percent of document verification fraud involves fake or doctored IDs, with “selfie mismatch” attempts making up nearly 73 percent of flagged cases.
The most targeted part of the player journey is no longer withdrawals or account creation—it’s deposits. Around 41.9 percent of all attacks in 2024 occurred during the deposit stage, suggesting professional, coordinated syndicates are exploiting transactional loopholes.
Moreover, time-of-day data reveals a concerning trend: most fraudulent activity occurs between 4:00 AM and 8:00 AM, hours when security and compliance teams are often inactive. Legitimate players, by contrast, tend to register accounts around 6 PM, indicating a clear behavioural divide between fraudsters and real users.
Staggering financial impact
Fraud’s financial impact on operators is staggering. Around , including many in Asia, reported an increase in fraud over the previous year. Nearly half of compliance teams reported that fraud resulted in revenue losses of 10 percent or more.
Despite the threat, progress has been made in improving verification systems. In Asia, the pass rate for legitimate users completing identity verification rose from 63.48 percent in 2023 to 88.87 percent in 2025. This suggests that while fraud attempts have become more sophisticated, operators are also getting better at screening out bad actors.
Data also shows that the region remains a magnet for fraud rings, particularly in Southeast Asia’s “hot zones” of Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar. Here, criminal groups have disguised scam centres as iGaming or POGO (Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators) hubs. Reports from NGOs and law enforcement agencies indicate that some of these operations involve human trafficking victims forced into cyber-enabled fraud, including romance scams and crypto swindles.
According to the (UNODC), financial losses from such schemes in East and Southeast Asia may have ranged between $18 billion and $37 billion in 2023 alone.
Regulators waking up
Governments in the region are not sitting idle. In the Philippines, sweeping regulatory reforms are underway. PAGCOR, which previously acted as both operator and regulator, is transitioning into a purely regulatory agency by the end of 2025. Over 40 state-run 바카라s are slated for privatisation to eliminate conflicts of interest.
As part of this shift, e-gaming service providers are now required to install certified cybersecurity systems and connect their platforms with third-party auditing tools. Failure to comply can result in fines or a ban on licensing. Moreover, new accreditation standards introduced in April 2025 now define clear categories and procedures for gaming affiliates and service providers.
Thailand, meanwhile, is discussing a cabinet bill that would allow 바카라s to be built within large resort complexes, taking a page from Singapore’s playbook. Each resort must include at least $280 million in capital and $2.8 billion in total investment. Thai citizens face entry restrictions—including a $140 entry fee and minimum bank holdings of $1.4 million, to curb domestic problem gambling.
If passed by Parliament, the bill is expected to generate significant tourism revenue and create a legal framework that could further formalise Thailand’s gaming landscape.
Can Asia flip the script?
Asia remains the most valuable yet challenging market for iGaming worldwide. The region’s mix of well-regulated jurisdictions alongside largely unregulated or black-market operations creates both great potential and considerable risk. For operators, the key lies in strengthening player onboarding and anti-money laundering (AML) measures, localising content for diverse audiences, and offering payment solutions that fit the mobile-first habits of everyday across Asia.
However, these efforts will only succeed if fraud can be effectively controlled. Security is no longer just a back-end concern—it has become central to the business. As fraudsters grow more sophisticated and daring, operators must respond with greater speed, intelligence, and flexibility to protect their companies and players alike.
