Senators push laws vs online gambling
Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri has filed a bill seeking an outright ban on all online gambling in the country, while Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian filed a measure banning the use of e-wallets in online gambling.
The former Senate President said that while the administration had already closed its doors to offshore gaming operators, online gambling has emerged as an even more dangerous problem that has crept into people’s homes, even after the government had supposedly banned Philippine offshore gaming operators (Pogos).
“Let’s not kid ourselves. Gambling addiction looks different now. It is no longer the picture of a person getting addicted to a casino or the cockpit. It now looks like a kid with a phone under the covers at 2 a.m., losing the family’s grocery money on an online casino site,” Zubiri said in a statement on Friday.
Under his proposed Anti-Online Gambling Act of 2025, all forms of online gambling in the country will be prohibited—including digital betting platforms, mobile applications and websites that allow users to place wagers through phones, tablets and computers.
Wider scope
The bill also mandates ISPs (internet service providers), mobile network operators and digital platforms to block access to gambling websites and remove related apps within 72 hours upon notice from the Department of Justice or Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (Pagcor).
“We see a lot of online casino ads in our payment wallets. Celebrities even endorse them. You can see the memes of what they call ‘scatter’ on social media. These memes make a parody of people losing a lot of money in online gambling,” Zubiri said.
After Gatchalian filed his measure, Pagcor on Friday said it is open to imposing stricter regulations against online gambling.
“It is the prerogative of our lawmakers to propose laws which they think will be beneficial to the public,” the regulator said in a statement.
‘Worse’ than Pogos
Last month, Palace Press Officer Undersecretary Claire Castro said the Department of Information and Communications Technology already removed 7,000 unauthorized online sites identified by Pagcor.
In a radio interview, Sen. JV Ejercito agreed with calls to restrict online gambling, calling in particular electronic cockfighting (e-sabong) “worse” than Pogos.
“Because of the social consequences of … e-sabong, e-games, online gaming and all that, I think the government should be strict with this and e-wallets should prevent being used for online gambling,” Ejercito told DWIZ on Saturday. —WITH REPORTS FROM JASON SIGALES AND PNA
