{"id":777029069,"date":"2025-07-15T10:41:21","date_gmt":"2025-07-15T13:41:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777029069"},"modified":"2026-04-21T20:58:51","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T23:58:51","slug":"philippine-senator-joins-the-calls-for-stricter-online-gambling-regulations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/philippine-senator-joins-the-calls-for-stricter-online-gambling-regulations","title":{"rendered":"Philippine senator joins calls for stricter online gambling regulations"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Senator Risa Hontiveros has said that current laws are falling behind the rapid pace of digital technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>The Philippines.- <strong>Senator Risa Hontiveros<\/strong> has called for <strong>stricter regulation for online gambling<\/strong>, saying current laws are falling behind the rapid pace of digital technology. She said her office had received pleas for help from families of people addicted to online gambling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to the Philippine News Agency, Hontiveros stated: \u201cWhat\u2019s clear is that our laws are being left behind by the rapid pace of technology. That\u2019s why we\u2019ve filed a bill to limit access to online gambling, particularly in e-wallets and super apps.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While casino operators have reaffirmed their commitment to responsible gaming, Hontiveros said: \u201cIf big casinos say they are following regulations, that\u2019s well and good. That means there should be no issue if we tighten access to online gambling. With so many complaints pointing to how phones have made online gambling too easy to access, why are e-wallet and super app companies silent? I hope that they would also take steps to self-regulate,&#8221; she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) has recently ordered licensed online gambling operators and related service providers to <a href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/pagcor-orders-takedown-of-gambling-billboards\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">remove all out-of-home advertising<\/a>, including billboards and posters on trains, buses, jeepneys, and taxis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. is reportedly <a href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/philippine-president-open-to-considering-proposed-new-online-gambling-legislation\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/philippine-president-open-to-considering-proposed-new-online-gambling-legislation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">open to proposals for tighter regulations<\/a> and taxation of digital gaming. The Department of Finance (DOF) is exploring measures such as a 10 per cent tax on operators to fund addiction treatment and recovery programmes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Senate president Juan Miguel Zubiri has presented a bill that seeks to ban online gambling and Senator Sherwin Gatchalian has filed a bill proposing tighter restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) recently published a draft circular outlining <a href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/philippine-central-bank-proposes-stricter-oversight-of-online-gambling-payments\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/philippine-central-bank-proposes-stricter-oversight-of-online-gambling-payments\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">tighter controls over online gambling payment services<\/a>. The proposed framework would require banks, e-wallets, and other payment service providers (PSPs) to implement new technical and operational standards before processing payments related to online gambling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This includes the creation of a separate \u201cOnline Gambling Transaction Account\u201d (OGTA) for each eligible user, capped at daily transfers equal to 20 per cent of the user\u2019s average daily balance and subject to a maximum usage window of six hours per day. Exceeding these thresholds would trigger a 24-hour \u201ccooling-off\u201d period.<\/p>\n\n\n<div id=\"see-also-container\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"see-also-label\">See also:<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"related-article\">\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"related-article__thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/07\/08072018-bsp-md-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\"><\/p>\n<p class=\"related-article__text\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"see-also-label-strong\">See also:<\/span> <a href='https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/philippine-central-bank-proposes-stricter-oversight-of-online-gambling-payments'>Philippine Central Bank proposes stricter oversight of online gambling payments<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Senator Risa Hontiveros has said that current laws are falling behind the rapid pace of digital technology.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":218,"featured_media":777024996,"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 lawmakers and regulators are advancing multiple initiatives to tighten online gambling regulations, citing concerns over addiction and the rapid pace of digital technology. Proposed measures include stricter payment controls, advertising bans, potential taxation, and even outright prohibition, signaling a significant shift in the country's iGaming governance framework.","focusai_entities":"Senator Risa Hontiveros, Philippine News Agency, Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR), President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., Department of Finance (DOF), Senate president Juan Miguel Zubiri, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP)","focusai_location":"Philippines","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.95), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (0.98), operator_casino (0.97), affiliate_publisher (0.8), product_ux (0.85), tech_data (0.8), marketing_crm (0.9), payments_fraud_aml (0.99), investor_analyst (0.95), supplier_vendor (0.85), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Impact on GGR?","query":"What is the projected impact of these proposed regulatory and taxation measures on the Philippines' online gambling Gross Gaming Revenue (GGR) and Net Gaming Revenue (NGR) for licensed operators?"},{"label":"BSP Framework Details?","query":"How will the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas's proposed 'Online Gambling Transaction Account' (OGTA) framework, including daily caps and cooling-off periods, be technically implemented by Payment Service Providers (PSPs) and what are the compliance timelines?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[154,16333],"tags":[225,4138,337],"class_list":["post-777029069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legislation-news","category-south-east-asia-news","tag-legislation","tag-online-gambling","tag-regulation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777029069","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\/218"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777029069"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777029069\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777029077,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777029069\/revisions\/777029077"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/777024996"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777029069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777029069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777029069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}