{"id":777022602,"date":"2025-02-05T09:57:27","date_gmt":"2025-02-05T12:57:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777022602"},"modified":"2026-04-22T02:06:23","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T05:06:23","slug":"philippine-senate-committee-warns-criminal-activity-continues-despite-offshore-gaming-ban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/philippine-senate-committee-warns-criminal-activity-continues-despite-offshore-gaming-ban","title":{"rendered":"Philippine Senate committee warns criminal activity continues despite offshore gaming ban"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Senator Risa Hontiveros said banning offshore gaming operators was the right move but warned the fight is far from over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The Philippines.- A senate committee report has warned that criminal syndicates linked to offshore gaming are still active despite the ban on offshore gaming operations. Committee Report No. 514 outlines how human trafficking, financial crimes and threats to national security continue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. <\/strong>issued Executive Order (EO) 74<\/strong> banning offshore gaming<\/a> in November. The move came after high-profile cases of human trafficking, money laundering and other criminal activities. However, the senate investigation discovered that some former offshore gaming operators have transitioned to different sectors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Casinos and integrated resorts have reportedly emerged as new hubs for former offshore gaming operators, where they are using junket agreements to sustain online gambling and illegal financial activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report was presented by Senate deputy minority leader Risa Hontiveros<\/strong>, who also chairs the Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations, and Gender Equality. She said special economic zones were being misused by scam operations and that cryptocurrency transactions had become a significant means for laundering money from online fraud and trafficking. She said: “Our office has received reports that former offshore gaming workers are being relocated to a casino in Para\u00f1aque<\/strong>, housed in dormitories similar to previous offshore gaming operator setups.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She added: “Banning offshore gaming operators was the right move, but our fight is far from over. These criminal networks are highly adaptable, and they are already using new cover operations to continue their illicit activities.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The committee shared a series of recommendations<\/strong>, including prosecuting local officials. It requested the government clarify Executive Order No. 74, particularly Section 2(b) which states: “This definition excludes online games of chance conducted in PAGCOR-operated casinos, licensed casinos, or integrated resorts with junket agreements.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The committee also directed the Securities and Exchange Commission to review its procedures for verifying incorporators’ identities and the authenticity of other document requirements. It ordered the Department of Labor and Employment to continuously update the senate on its efforts to provide assistance to Filipino workers affected by the offshore gaming ban and required the Philippine Statistics Authority to investigate the number of Filipinos whose births remain unregistered and to create policies, programs, and projects to make immediate birth registration more accessible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

See also:<\/strong> PAGCOR CEO denies possible return of offshore gaming operators in the Philippines<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report noted that local government officials were also discovered to have notarised fake documents for companies associated with offshore gaming operators, and law enforcement and military personnel were allegedly placed on payrolls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senator Joel Villanueva<\/strong> said: “Our institutions were compromised. The cost of offshore gaming operations wasn’t just economic \u2014it was a full-scale erosion of governance, security, and national integrity.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Senator Risa Hontiveros said banning offshore gaming operators was the right move but warned the fight is far from over.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":16906,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"The Philippines' Senate Committee Report No. 514 indicates that criminal syndicates linked to former offshore gaming operators (POGOs) continue illicit activities despite Executive Order (EO) 74's ban, leveraging licensed casinos and integrated resorts through junket agreements. The report highlights significant governance and national security risks, recommending urgent clarification of EO 74's scope and enhanced regulatory oversight by agencies like the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). This ongoing challenge underscores the adaptability of criminal networks and the erosion of national integrity.","focusai_entities":"Risa Hontiveros, Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations, and Gender Equality, Securities and Exchange Commission, Department of Labor and Employment, Philippine Statistics Authority, PAGCOR, Joel Villanueva","focusai_location":"Philippines, Para\u00f1aque","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (0.95), operator_casino (0.9), payments_fraud_aml (0.95), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.7), journalist_researcher (1.0)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Clarify EO 74 Scope","query":"What specific amendments or clarifications to Executive Order No. 74, particularly Section 2(b), are anticipated to address the identified loopholes concerning junket agreements in licensed casinos and integrated resorts?"},{"label":"SEC Verification Enhancements","query":"How will the Securities and Exchange Commission enhance its procedures for verifying incorporators' identities and document authenticity to prevent the registration of shell companies linked to illicit gaming operations?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[156,158,16333],"tags":[23911,4138],"class_list":["post-777022602","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\/777022602","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=777022602"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777022602\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777022634,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777022602\/revisions\/777022634"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777022602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777022602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777022602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}