{"id":777020356,"date":"2024-11-01T09:49:43","date_gmt":"2024-11-01T12:49:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777020356"},"modified":"2026-04-22T04:36:25","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T07:36:25","slug":"illegal-gambling-in-the-philippines-over-400-arrested","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/illegal-gambling-in-the-philippines-over-400-arrested","title":{"rendered":"Illegal gambling in the Philippines: over 400 arrested"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>57 foreigners and 358 Filipinos were arrested in a raid in Bagac, Bataan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>The Philippines.- <strong>The Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC)<\/strong> along with<strong> the Philippine National Police (PNP)<\/strong> and armed forces have arrested <strong>57 foreign nationals and 358 Filipinos <\/strong>allegedly linked to offshore gaming operators in a raid in Bagac, Bataan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Officials reportedly received information that the Central One complex within the compound was housing an unlicensed offshore gaming operation. PAOCC executive director undersecretary <strong>Gilbert Cruz <\/strong>told dzBB that around 900 people were employed at the hub. Among them were nationals from China, Vietnam, and Malaysia and 600 Filipinos.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Malolos Regional Trial Court Branch 81 granted the search warrant after determining that there was probable cause indicating violations of Republic Act 9208. Among the alleged leaders of the offshore gaming operator are ten Chinese nationals, four Malaysians and two Thai nationals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>PAOCC spokesperson<strong> Winston Casio<\/strong> said the firm operated under a permit from the Authority of the Freeport Area of Bataan but had no online gambling permit from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">8 added to human trafficking case<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Meanwhile, the Philippine National Police \u2013 Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) has requested that prosecutors add\u00a0<strong>eight more people\u00a0to human trafficking charges<\/strong>\u00a0related to a raided offshore gaming operator hub in Bamban, Tarlac. The move comes after two victims claimed they were made to work in the hub against their will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Earlier this week, The PNP-CIDG, along with the PAOCC filed&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/former-philippine-presidential-spokesperson-faces-human-trafficking-charges\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">human trafficking charges<\/a>&nbsp;against former presidential spokesperson&nbsp;<strong>Harry Roque<\/strong> and two others. They\u2019re accused of alleged links to Lucky South 99, an offshore gaming operation,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/187-people-rescued-from-gaming-operation-in-the-philippines\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">which was raided<\/a>&nbsp;in Porac, Pampanga.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>See also:<\/strong>&nbsp;<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/philippine-police-officers-face-dismissal-over-alleged-work-for-offshore-gaming-operator\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Philippine police officers face dismissal over alleged work for offshore gaming operator<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>57 foreigners and 358 Filipinos were arrested in a raid in Bagac, Bataan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":15427,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Philippine authorities, led by PAOCC and PNP, conducted a major raid in Bagac, Bataan, arresting over 400 individuals linked to an unlicensed offshore gaming operation that lacked a PAGCOR permit despite having an AFAB permit. This incident follows other recent crackdowns, including human trafficking charges related to POGO hubs in Tarlac and Pampanga, highlighting intensified regulatory enforcement against illicit iGaming activities and associated criminal enterprises in the Philippines.","focusai_entities":"Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC), Philippine National Police (PNP), Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR), Authority of the Freeport Area of Bataan (AFAB), Malolos Regional Trial Court Branch 81, PNP-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG), Gilbert Cruz, Winston Casio, Harry Roque, Lucky South 99","focusai_location":"Philippines, Bagac, Bataan, Malolos, Bamban, Tarlac, Porac, Pampanga, China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (1.0), operator_casino (0.9), payments_fraud_aml (0.7), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.8), journalist_researcher (1.0)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"POGO Regulatory Impact","query":"What are the long-term implications of these intensified regulatory crackdowns on the overall B2B and B2C licensing framework for offshore gaming operators in the Philippines, and how might this affect legitimate market participants?"},{"label":"Human Trafficking & AML","query":"How will the ongoing human trafficking investigations linked to POGOs influence the enforcement of AML and KYC regulations within the Philippine iGaming sector, and what enhanced due diligence measures are expected from payment processors and financial institutions?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[439,16333],"tags":[20326],"class_list":["post-777020356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legal-news","category-south-east-asia-news","tag-illegal-gambling"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777020356","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=777020356"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777020356\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777020380,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777020356\/revisions\/777020380"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777020356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777020356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777020356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}