The difference is where the money goes. You can point to any country that scores high on corruption index and go "well actually, these people made out like bandits".
But, one wonders why a very rich society would need to resort to enslaving people in order to save a buck.
Also, I’m not sure how much has changed since I left that part of the world, but for decades the blue collar workers (Filipinos, Indians, Pakistanis, etc.) were considered lower tier class in rich Gulf countries. Probably easier to exploit those who one feels are less deserving.