{"id":777030153,"date":"2025-08-11T07:51:33","date_gmt":"2025-08-11T10:51:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777030153"},"modified":"2026-04-21T20:15:04","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T23:15:04","slug":"philippine-senate-to-start-hearings-on-online-gambling-bills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/philippine-senate-to-start-hearings-on-online-gambling-bills","title":{"rendered":"Philippine Senate to start hearings on online gambling bills"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Senate Committee on Games and Amusement will start discussing the bills this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The Philippines.- The Philippine Senate will this week start committee hearings on calls to ban or more tightly regulate online gambling. Senator Erwin Tulfo, chair of the Senate Committee on Games and Amusement<\/a>, said the committee will start discussing the bills on Thursday (August 14).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Senate Games and Amusement Panel will look at four bills and three resolutions, and a privilege speech on the ill effects of the online gambling industry. The committee will direct government agencies like the Department of Finance and Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) to submit cost-benefit analysis and details of implications on employment as well as social costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tulfo said of his position: \u201cI made a commitment to prioritise these measures because our problem concerning online gambling is getting worse. This is already a crisis,\u201d and added: \u201cWe need to act on this, to solve this problem.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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Sen. Erwin Tulfo. Credit: Senate Public Relations and Information Bureau.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Last week, president\u00a0Ferdinand Marcos Jr.\u00a0announced plans to hold a meeting of\u00a0stakeholders<\/a> to explore a response to concerns over online gambling while avoiding calls for a ban. He cited a\u00a0need for a balanced policy\u00a0that tackles social harms without fuelling the unregulated market. Marcos said the gathering will include the\u00a0Catholic Bishops\u2019 Conference of the Philippines (CBCP)<\/a>, parents of young people affected by gambling and potential regulators to\u00a0determine the best regulatory path forward<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said the conference will examine all policy options, aiming to finalise a framework that addresses addiction, prevents underage gambling, and safeguards the public without inadvertently expanding the illegal sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


<\/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> Philippine president to hear from bishops, families and regulators on online gambling<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Senate Committee on Games and Amusement will start discussing the bills this week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":226,"featured_media":777030156,"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 Senate Committee on Games and Amusement is commencing hearings this week to deliberate on bills and resolutions concerning the regulation or potential prohibition of online gambling. This legislative initiative, spearheaded by Senator Erwin Tulfo, will involve government agencies like the Department of Finance and PAGCOR conducting cost-benefit analyses. Concurrently, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is convening a multi-stakeholder meeting to formulate a balanced policy that addresses social harms without inadvertently expanding the unregulated market.","focusai_entities":"Erwin Tulfo, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Senate Committee on Games and Amusement, Department of Finance, Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR), Catholic Bishops\u2019 Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), Senate Public Relations and Information Bureau","focusai_location":"The Philippines","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (1.0), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (1.0), operator_casino (1.0), affiliate_publisher (0.9), product_ux (0.7), tech_data (0.7), marketing_crm (0.9), payments_fraud_aml (0.9), investor_analyst (1.0), supplier_vendor (0.9), journalist_researcher (1.0)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Economic Impact Analysis","query":"What specific methodologies will the Department of Finance and PAGCOR employ for their cost-benefit analysis, and what are the projected economic implications of a partial or full online gambling ban on national revenue and employment?"},{"label":"Regulatory Framework Evolution","query":"How might the proposed legislative changes in the Philippines influence the broader regulatory landscape for iGaming in Southeast Asia, particularly concerning B2B\/B2C licensing and cross-border operational compliance?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[154,158,16333],"tags":[4138,128,337],"class_list":["post-777030153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legislation-news","category-slider-home","category-south-east-asia-news","tag-online-gambling","tag-philippines","tag-regulation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777030153","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\/226"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777030153"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777030153\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777030162,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777030153\/revisions\/777030162"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/777030156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777030153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777030153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777030153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}