Gambling sites start moving to other apps
The fight against online gambling is far from over as the firms behind its operations shift to other mobile applications, Sen. Erwin Tulfo warned on Sunday.
While the government, mainly through the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), tightened regulations on the use of money-transfer platforms, or e-wallets, for online gambling, these firms have also doubled their efforts to tap other mobile applications, such as Viber, Telegram, Lazada and other apps.
Tulfo, chair of the Senate committee on games and amusement, held a hearing on online gambling last week where the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center, an agency under the Department of Information and Communications Technology, claimed to have taken down 8,901 illegal online gambling sites.
Data, presented to the Senate committee, further claimed that there were 11,985 illegal gambling sites operating in the Philippines, including 6,363 online casino games and 4,815 online cockfighting sites.
Senators, however, did not discuss the source or implications of the data: whether they were unique sites maintained by unique entities or kept by a smaller number of operators in still-unspecified areas or countries.
During the Aug. 14 hearing, BSP Deputy Governor Mamerto Tangonan said they ordered e-wallet service providers, including GCash and Maya, to remove in-app features promoting or allowing users to access e-gambling sites.
“We laud the move of the e-wallet firms to delink these online gambling sites from their platforms. This is a sign that the business sector is willing to work with the government in addressing the problem of online gambling addiction in our country,” Tulfo said in a statement.
In an advisory on Sunday, payment platform Maya said it disabled links to gambling sites through its Games feature starting 8 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 16.
GCash—operated by GXchange Inc.—earlier made a similar announcement, saying it cut access to online gambling through its GLife feature.
However, Tulfo said other platforms have quickly adjusted their operations through other payment platforms.
Viber, Lazada tagged
The senator cited BingoPlus, which claims to be a Fortune Southeast Asia company licensed by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor), which issued the following advisory:
“Starting August 16, BingoPlus will bring you the fun through our app, website, and Viber, while still allowing easy deposits and withdrawals via Cash and Maya. Your account stays 100% active and ready to play,” the advisory read.
The advisory also tells their gamers that they can play via Viber, the senator said.
Another application that makes online gambling accessible is Lazada, which sells vouchers that can be used as credit points in the BingoPlus application.
Like other items being sold on Lazada, BingoPlus vouchers could be purchased using e-wallets, debit and credit cards.
“The fight against the accessibility of gambling to the public is far from over and we will do our best to work with the private sector and other stakeholders to come up with a holistic approach in addressing this problem,” Tulfo said.
“We are not enemies here. We are allies that should work hand in hand to ensure that the next generation of Filipinos are not gambling addicts,” he added.
During the hearing, Tulfo stressed that the Central Bank, Pagcor and other law enforcement agencies should provide concrete solutions to curb social ills wrought by online gambling.
“We want a clear and concise solution. We are talking now because the majority of us want a total ban on online gambling while you are asking for regulation due to foregone revenues,” he said.
“From the Senate’s end, we are inclined to ban it because social ills outweigh the income benefits. If you ask us, we want to stop online gambling right here, right now. But we will hear every side,” he added.
