Gambling helpline not enough
Those on social media platforms might have come across a colorful advertisement promoting a gaming app: “One spin could change everything—play now.”
Just how many have clicked on an online advertisement thinking it can do no harm but later found themselves sucked into the world of gambling? Technology has made it easier for the public, including young people, to gamble. As of July last year, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) recorded 32.117 million “Filipino electronic gaming players.” This is almost a third of the country’s estimated population of 117 million, a deeply concerning figure that should raise red flags on an emerging public health and socioeconomic crisis.
This week, Pagcor launched a 24/7 hotline for people struggling with gambling addiction, including family members of those who are affected. The helpline, accessible through the telephone number 02-8248-9568, has 12 para-counselors and mental health professionals working on three shifts daily to provide immediate assistance, psychological support, and referrals.
“Pagcor is aware that for many, gaming is just a form of leisure and recreation. But for some, what may start as entertainment can gradually lead to financial strain and ruin, emotional distress, damaged relationships, and isolation,” said Pagcor Chair and CEO Alejandro Tengco.
Missing ‘sabungeros’
Indeed, several studies have warned about the social ills that gambling, whether government-regulated or underground, brings: breakdown of family relationships, predatory debt and economic hardships, crimes and violence, and severe mental and physical health crises.
In its brief on gambling, the World Health Organization (WHO) cited a Swedish study stating that those with the disorder were “15 times more likely to die by suicide than the general population.”
In the Philippines, the case of the missing sabungeros (cockfight aficionados) who were engaged in the high-stakes e-sabong, has also exposed the dark, sinister side of the industry.
The government has taken steps to tighten regulation, such as age verification requirements, but it lacked the backbone to impose a total ban. This is because of the industry’s huge earnings, posting P396.14 billion in gross gaming revenue last year, with the online and electronic sector contributing half of that amount. This was also despite the slump the industry saw in the third quarter after the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas ordered the delinking of e-wallets to gambling platforms.
Harmless messaging
More than 10 million adult Filipinos, per Pagcor, are active users on legal e-gambling platforms, which include e-bingo and e-games; revenues for this sector soared by 30 percent to P201.12 billion last year from P154.66 billion in 2024. Endorsements by celebrities also boosted these platforms, prompting calls for the government to regulate gambling-related promotions in public spaces.
Last July, Pagcor ordered the takedown of billboards and out-of-home gambling advertisements, permitting only institutional or “responsible gaming campaigns.” But gambling campaigns—rather than fading away—became even more creative online, wrapping their true intent in harmless messaging through sports, charity, viral videos, or sales talk like “no deposit required” and “free bets.” Some advertisements even push “winning stories” of people whose lives were improved, inspiring those looking for get-rich-quick schemes. All of these advertisements have been approved by Pagcor.
It is this commercialization, according to the WHO, that has normalized gambling and increased the harm it brings to the public. “Sponsorship or other association with popular sporting leagues, and the colocation of gambling products in social settings, are key mechanisms. Aggressive promotion of gambling in popular and social media also increases gambling activity,” it said.
Socioeconomic costs
During a Senate hearing last year, Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian called out Pagcor for failing to regulate gambling. He noted that the number of gamblers in 2018, based on Pagcor’s record, was only about 469,000. But this jumped to 1.4 million in 2022; 2.4 million in 2023; 8.2 million in 2024; and 32.117 million in 2025.
“That’s an increase of almost 200 percent from [2024],” Gatchalian said. “That’s why it’s frightening. If we don’t stop this now … our entire adult population would be gambling.”
This is an alarming possibility whose socioeconomic costs the country cannot afford to shoulder, and which the government must stop from happening by all means.
Setting up a helpline is acknowledging that gambling has become a public health crisis, but it is not enough. Not when Pagcor itself thrives precisely on revenues from gambling, which it euphemistically calls gaming.
Pagcor should stop promoting gambling as a form of entertainment, and instead of allowing advertisements and media to romanticize it, should highlight the real dangers it brings. No amount of revenues could compensate for the tremendous damage gambling inflicts on Filipino society.
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