Pagcor OK with e-gambling curbs, warns vs total ban
Responding to the clamor from the Catholic Church and some lawmakers against the proliferation of online gambling, the head of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) on Tuesday said it would support moves to tighten regulations for the lucrative industry but not an outright ban.
Meanwhile, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) stepped up its opposition to online gambling, citing its adverse effect on the poor and the youth.
In Congress, more measures were introduced calling for either a total ban or new limitations on a business sector that has become as a leading source of revenue for the government.
“Pagcor’s stand, for now, is not a total ban but stricter regulation,” the regulator’s chair and chief executive officer Alejandro Tengco said in an interview with dzMM.
Tengco noted that the government earns more than P100 billion from online gambling. “Let’s not set this aside,” he said.
‘Remarkable performance’
In an earlier statement, Pagcor said it had a net income last year of P84.97 billion. About half of that total, P48.79 billion, came from the “remarkable performance” of e-games and e-bingo, the agency quoted Tengco as saying.
In the interview, Tengco said the regulator earned an additional “P30 or P40 billion that went to taxes,” thus his higher estimate of online gambling revenues.
He said a total ban would affect not only the more than 32,000 jobs created by the online gaming industry but also its “ancillary businesses.”
“There are the security guards, drivers, messengers, restaurants where they eat, and various transportation companies that are needed in the industry,” he said, adding that all these jobs and enterprises would be affected “if a total ban were passed into law.”
“What is really destroying the industry today are the illegal operators from other countries that are targeting Filipino customers,” Tengco said. “They probably know that Filipinos are fond of gambling (Alam nila siguro na mahilig magsugal ang mga Pilipino).”
“That’s why there are proposals being studied and finalized, for now,” he said. “We will set up in the next few months a hotline where you can call and seek advice.”
‘Self-exclusion button’
Pagcor is also currently in talks with a rehabilitation center that will assist gambling addicts, Tengco said, adding that the agency is developing an artificial intelligence tool or “self-exclusion button which you can press, if you’re already hooked on gambling, and, automatic, you won’t be able to play again.”
He disclosed further that Pagcor will sign an agreement next week with the Ad Standards Council, for that consumer protection nonprofit group to monitor the promotion of online gambling companies through billboards, “primetime television” and other advertising media.
Tengco said he met on Monday with the licensees who, according to him, did not object to these initiatives.
Pagcor is also considering the proposal to raise the minimum deposit or “top-up” fee to keep online gaming away from minors and those who can’t afford that indulgence. Tengco cites, in that regard, a bill filed last week by Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian setting a minimum top-up of P10,000.
Another lawmaker, Bukidnon Rep. Jonathan Keith Flores, noted in his measure which he filed also last week that the current top-up can go as low as P50, which makes e-games practically accessible to everyone.
Gatchalian’s bill prohibits as well e-wallets like GCash and Maya as online payment platforms.
“That’s why I said Sen. Win Gatchalian… is for stricter regulation,” Tengco said. “That way, the industry can continue to be regulated and, at the same time, the government also makes money.”
Encouraging debt
On Tuesday Sen. Risa Hontiveros filed a similar bill proposing to ban access to e-wallets and super apps, while Sen. JV Ejercito filed a resolution seeking an inquiry, in aid of legislation, into the proliferation of online gambling.
Hontiveros’ unnumbered bill further imposes daily, weekly and monthly betting and loss limits that will trigger the suspension of gaming accounts if exceeded, and prohibits any advertisement of online gambling.
“Let us also put an end to the many billboards, commercials and social media ads which encourage gambling. It’s like we’re encouraging our people to be in debt,” she said.
But other lawmakers support a total ban. Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri’s proposed Anti-Online Gambling Act (Senate Bill No. 142) imposes stiff penalties, including fines and imprisonment, and requires internet service providers, mobile networks and digital platforms to block access to gambling content.
At the House of Representatives, Manila Rep. Bienvenido “Benny” Abante Jr. told reporters, “I will file a bill banning all online gambling and asking Pagcor to take away the franchise of online gambling.”
Lanao del Sur Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong earlier expressed support for a total ban, saying that online gambling is no longer allowed in many countries.
“In fact, we have banned Pogos (Philippine offshore gaming operators) here, and if we ban the Pogo in real and its physical form, why can’t we do that virtually?” Adiong had said.
‘Grave scandal’
Zubiri also cited the case of Pogos in warning that taxation alone will not resolve the adverse effects of online gambling.
“We passed a law taxing [this industry] and it did not stop the moral scourge to society. The syndicates and human trafficking cases in the country got even worse,” he said.
The senator also expressed support for the stand of CBCP.
The group’s president, Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David, earlier criticized some celebrities and influencers for “prostitut[ing] themselves for a fee” by promoting online gambling.
In a statement on Tuesday signed by David, the CBCP said: “We thought we have been already spared by the sufferings brought by Pogos and e-sabong—and we cannot deny that the severe effects they brought are still being felt today.”
“The Church’s stand is clear: taking advantage of another’s weakness for profit is a sin,” the statement said.
“The normalization of gambling, especially among the youth and the poor, is a grave scandal. As a society—the government, businesses, schools and the Church—we must not be blind, deaf or mute to the harm it causes.” —WITH REPORTS FROM CHARIE ABARCA, DEXTER CABALZA, DIANNE SAMPANG AND TINA G. SANTOS
