Online gambling is becoming an increasing protection concern in Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh, where declining humanitarian assistance, restricted livelihood opportunities and prolonged displacement are leaving families under mounting financial pressure, according to Bangladeshi refugee authorities and the UN refugee agency.

Officials say gambling activity has risen significantly since it began attracting attention in 2023 and 2024, with some refugees becoming trapped in debt and, in certain cases, resorting to staged kidnappings and other schemes to obtain money from relatives.

UNHCR’s monitoring for the second quarter of 2026 identified a “sharp rise in online gambling,” linking the trend to financial hardship and limited livelihood opportunities in the camps.

“Online gambling is becoming a growing protection concern in the camps,” UNHCR spokesperson in Bangladesh Mosharaf Hossain said.

Years of displacement leave Rohingya with few livelihood options

About 1.3 million Rohingya are living across 33 densely populated refugee settlements in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar district, according to the figures cited in the source material.

Most fled Myanmar following the military’s 2017 crackdown in northern Rakhine State.

Repeated attempts to begin large-scale repatriation have failed, leaving the Rohingya in prolonged displacement with no durable solution.

In Bangladesh, Rohingya refugees generally do not have legal access to formal employment, while restrictions on movement make it difficult for them to seek work outside the camps.

As a result, many families remain dependent on humanitarian assistance or irregular informal income.

Falling aid increases pressure on refugee families

The humanitarian response has faced mounting funding pressure in recent years as donors respond to multiple global emergencies and the Rohingya crisis enters another year without a political solution.

According to the source material, international assistance has declined substantially since 2021 amid competing emergencies, donor fatigue and disruptions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.

UNHCR estimated that more than 35 percent of Rohingya refugee households were already facing extreme humanitarian needs in 2023 amid major funding reductions.

It was around that period that authorities began detecting online gambling in the camps.

“The Rohingyas at Cox’s Bazar camps have been getting involved in online gambling and we are noticing a rising trend,” Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner Mizanur Rahman said.

“This practice has started coming to light in 2023-24. From that time onward the activity has increased significantly.”

Gambling debt linked to staged kidnappings

Bangladeshi authorities say the consequences extend beyond the financial losses suffered by individual gamblers.

Rahman said debt accumulated through gambling has been connected to some cases of violence, kidnapping and extortion inside the camps.

“Many abduction incidents that are taking place in the camps are related to this gambling,” he said.

According to Rahman, some indebted gamblers have staged their own kidnappings and used other people to demand ransom from their families.

Such incidents add another layer of insecurity for a refugee population already facing crime, violence and economic vulnerability after years of displacement.

The source material says UNHCR data indicate that hundreds of people in the camps are affected each month by gambling-related incidents.

UNHCR calls gambling a ‘negative coping mechanism’

UNHCR’s monitoring report covering the second quarter of 2026 identified what it described as a “sharp rise in online gambling.”

The agency linked the trend to financial hardship and the scarcity of livelihood opportunities available to Rohingya refugees.

“While refugees increasingly use online gambling as a negative coping mechanism to respond to reduced humanitarian aid within a constrained self-reliance environment, it often results in further deterioration of their situation,” Hossain said.

The warning highlights a cycle in which financial hardship can push vulnerable people toward high-risk attempts to obtain money, only for gambling losses and debt to deepen their existing difficulties.

Meaningful opportunities needed to protect dignity

UNHCR stressed that addressing the problem requires more than enforcement against gambling.

“For refugees who have spent years in displacement, meaningful opportunities are essential to protect dignity, build resilience and help people pursue safer and more hopeful futures,” Hossain said.

The comments point to a broader challenge facing the Rohingya response in Bangladesh: refugees remain heavily dependent on international assistance while having few legal opportunities to become economically self-reliant.

Continued reductions in humanitarian funding could deepen that vulnerability.

A protection issue rooted in prolonged displacement

The growth of online gambling also reflects the wider consequences of nearly a decade of uncertainty for Rohingya refugees.

With no large-scale voluntary return to Myanmar underway and few formal livelihood opportunities available in Bangladesh, young people in particular face years of restricted education, employment and mobility.

Authorities and humanitarian agencies now face the challenge of tackling gambling-related harm without criminalising an already vulnerable refugee population.

Preventing exploitation, debt and associated crime will require stronger protection measures alongside access to education, skills development and safe livelihood opportunities, according to the concerns reflected in the UNHCR assessment.

For Rohingya families in Cox’s Bazar, the emerging gambling problem is therefore not only a question of individual behaviour. It is becoming another symptom of a prolonged refugee crisis in which declining aid, restricted opportunities and the absence of a durable solution continue to increase vulnerability.

 

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