{"id":777028544,"date":"2025-07-02T08:27:23","date_gmt":"2025-07-02T11:27:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777028544"},"modified":"2026-04-21T21:21:35","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T00:21:35","slug":"94-arrested-over-illegal-raffles-in-the-philippines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/94-arrested-over-illegal-raffles-in-the-philippines","title":{"rendered":"94 arrested over illegal raffles in the Philippines"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Police say the operation offered multi-million peso prizes in Tarlac.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The Philippines.- The Philippine National Police Anti-Cybercrime Group (PNP-ACG) has arrested 94 people at an event centre in San Vicente, Tarlac, in connection with an alleged illegal online and offline raffle operation. The group is said to have been promoting prize draws on social media and in person without a permit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among those apprehended were three alleged financiers and operators, 43 head distributors, 19 distributors, 11 agents and 18 administrative staff. Police estimated that more than 1,000 people attended an event on Sunday, where prizes included a Toyota Fortuner worth PHP 4.5m (US$79,800), a residential lot and a wedding package.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis was clearly a fraudulent operation,\u201d said Brigadier General Bernard Yang<\/strong>, acting chief of the PNP-ACG, during a press briefing held at Camp Crame today. \u201cThey had no documents proving the legitimacy of the raffle, and evidence suggests that only insiders were selected to win the major prizes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to police, participants purchased raffle tickets for PHP 20 each. The group used physical raffle drums (\u201ctambilos\u201d) for the draws, which were livestreamed on social media platforms and marketed as charity events. An investigation began in February 2024 through cyber patrolling and confirmed that the operation lacked authorisation from key regulatory bodies, including the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, PAGCOR, the Games and Amusements Board (GAB) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The organisers also did not hold a valid business license from the local government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis has been going on for at least five years,\u201d Yang said. \u201cThey\u2019ve held monthly raffles across various provinces \u2014 including Nueva Ecija, Baguio, Pangasinan, and Bicol \u2014 deceiving thousands with fake promises of huge prizes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those arrested face charges under Presidential Decree No. 1602 (Illegal Gambling), as amended by Republic Act No. 9287, in relation to Section 6 of the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 (RA 10175). Each suspect was issued a recommended bail of PHP 48,000. Authorities say more charges could follow. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUnder the law, everyone present at an illegal gambling event \u2013 including bettors \u2013 may be liable,\u201d Yang stated. \u201cBut we had to focus first on the key players. Processing 1,000 people at once is simply not feasible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\n\t\t\tSee also:<\/span><\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tSee also:<\/span> PAGCOR grants funds for repatriation of illegal gaming workers<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Police say the operation offered multi-million peso prizes in Tarlac.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":680,"featured_media":16984,"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 Philippine National Police Anti-Cybercrime Group (PNP-ACG) has apprehended 94 individuals in Tarlac for operating an extensive illegal online and offline raffle scheme, which allegedly defrauded thousands over five years. This operation lacked critical permits from regulatory bodies including PAGCOR, PCSO, GAB, SEC, and local government, promoting multi-million peso prizes via social media and physical events. Those arrested face charges under illegal gambling and cybercrime statutes, underscoring significant regulatory compliance failures and the persistent challenge of black market operations.","focusai_entities":"Philippine National Police Anti-Cybercrime Group, Brigadier General Bernard Yang, Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, PAGCOR, Games and Amusements Board, Securities and Exchange Commission, Toyota","focusai_location":"Philippines, Tarlac, San Vicente, Camp Crame, Nueva Ecija, Baguio, Pangasinan, Bicol","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (1.0), operator_casino (0.8), affiliate_publisher (0.7), marketing_crm (0.7), payments_fraud_aml (0.7), investor_analyst (0.8), supplier_vendor (0.7), journalist_researcher (1.0)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Regulatory Enforcement Impact?","query":"What are the long-term implications of this enforcement action on the Philippines' iGaming regulatory compliance landscape and the operational integrity of licensed entities?"},{"label":"Black Market Scale?","query":"How does the estimated five-year duration and multi-province reach of this illegal operation reflect the broader scale and challenge of black market gambling in the Philippines?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[439,16333],"tags":[20326,24804],"class_list":["post-777028544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legal-news","category-south-east-asia-news","tag-illegal-gambling","tag-the-philippines"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777028544","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\/680"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777028544"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777028544\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777028562,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777028544\/revisions\/777028562"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777028544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777028544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777028544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}