{"id":777013083,"date":"2024-02-12T10:04:16","date_gmt":"2024-02-12T13:04:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777013083"},"modified":"2026-04-22T13:06:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T16:06:18","slug":"philippines-pasig-city-shuts-down-online-gambling-operations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/philippines-pasig-city-shuts-down-online-gambling-operations","title":{"rendered":"Philippines: Pasig city shuts down online gambling operations"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Mayor Vico Sotto had given POGO, e-games, and e-bingo operators one year to cease operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>The Philippines.- Pasig City mayor\u00a0<strong>Vico Sotto<\/strong>\u00a0has reportedly shut down all online gambling operations (POGOs), e-games and e-bingo operators in the city.\u00a0This action came under <strong>City Ordinance 55 s. 2022<\/strong>, which mandated the cessation of such operations within a year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Permits expired on December 31, 2023, but 18 establishments allegedly continued operating illegally until February. Consequently, Sotto instructed the Business Permit and Licensing Department (BPLD) to enforce the closure order with police support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sotto emphasized the importance of enforcing the ordinance, citing instances of addiction, suicides, and human trafficking associated with these gambling activities.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The ordinance, approved by the Pasig City Council in December 2022, prohibits a wide range of online gambling activities, including online casinos, e-games, e-sabong, and e-bingo outlets. It also prohibits the operations of service providers supporting these activities, including POGOs, within Pasig City&#8217;s jurisdiction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to The Manila Bulletin, the ordinance, excludes\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/philippine-house-investigates-closure-of-2000-lotto-outlets\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) outlets<\/a>\u00a0such as Lotto.\u00a0Councilor <strong>Simon Romulo Tantoco<\/strong>, chairman of the Committee on Games and Amusement, authored and sponsored the ordinance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>See also:<\/strong>&nbsp;<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/pagcor-posts-income-of-us1-41bn-for-2023\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">PAGCOR posts income of US$1.41bn for 2023<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mayor Vico Sotto had given POGO, e-games, and e-bingo operators one year to cease operations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":777009719,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Pasig City, Philippines, has enacted a comprehensive ban on all online gambling operations, including POGOs, e-games, and e-bingo, under City Ordinance 55 s. 2022. Mayor Vico Sotto enforced the cessation order against 18 establishments that continued operating illegally past the December 31, 2023 permit expiration, citing significant social harms. This action underscores a localized tightening of iGaming regulatory compliance and governance frameworks within the Philippine market.","focusai_entities":"Vico Sotto, Pasig City Council, Business Permit and Licensing Department (BPLD), The Manila Bulletin, Simon Romulo Tantoco, Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO), PAGCOR","focusai_location":"Philippines, Pasig City","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (0.95), compliance_legal (0.95), operator_casino (0.95), affiliate_publisher (0.7), payments_fraud_aml (0.8), investor_analyst (0.9), gambler_consumer (0.7), supplier_vendor (0.85), journalist_researcher (0.95)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Broader Regulatory Impact?","query":"What are the implications of Pasig City's localized ban on POGOs and e-gaming for the broader national iGaming regulatory framework in the Philippines, and could this precedent lead to similar municipal-level prohibitions?"},{"label":"Operator Exit Strategy?","query":"How are the affected POGO and e-gaming operators in Pasig City managing their exit strategies, including asset disposition, employee severance, and potential relocation to other jurisdictions within or outside the Philippines?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[156,158,16333],"tags":[23911,4138],"class_list":["post-777013083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-regulation-news","category-slider-home","category-south-east-asia-news","tag-gambling-regulation","tag-online-gambling"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777013083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777013083"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777013083\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777013099,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777013083\/revisions\/777013099"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/777009719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777013083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777013083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777013083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}