{"id":777030343,"date":"2025-08-14T08:55:12","date_gmt":"2025-08-14T11:55:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777030343"},"modified":"2026-04-21T20:06:36","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T23:06:36","slug":"the-philippine-senate-begins-hearings-on-calls-for-online-gambling-ban-or-stricter-regulation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/the-philippine-senate-begins-hearings-on-calls-for-online-gambling-ban-or-stricter-regulation","title":{"rendered":"Philippine Senate begins hearings on calls for online gambling ban or stricter regulation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Lawmakers are split between prohibiting online gambling and reinforcing existing regulations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>The Philippines.-\u00a0The Philippine Senate has begun assessing whether to ban online gambling entirely or introduce tighter controls. Today&#8217;s joint committee hearing saw discussion of three pending bills that propose a ban alongside two measures aimed at strengthening regulation. The latter propose measures such as restricting e-wallet use, enhancing monitoring systems and boosting coordination among regulators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Senate majority leader Joel Villanueva described the issue as \u201ca growing concern that we must address decisively.\u201d Senator Pia Cayetano, who filed a bill for a ban, stated: &#8220;As chairman of the committee on ways and means, it is my hope that there will not be a need for me to call a hearing on taxation on online gambling operations because we will be banning outright.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Industry data presented at the hearing showed online gambling revenues rose from PHP58bn (US$1bn) in 2023 to PHP154bn (US$2,7bn) in 2024. Supporters of regulation argue that this provides significant fiscal contributions and helps draw players away from unlicensed platforms, while critics say rapid expansion has outpaced enforcement capabilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) chair Alejandro Tengco defended the framework for licensed Philippine Inland Gaming Operators (PIGOs), citing age restrictions, identity verification, and game certification standards. However he said: \u201cWe admit that we are trying to catch up,\u201d acknowledging that over 3,000 illegal sites remain active as of August 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Meanwhile, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has ordered <a href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/philippine-central-bank-orders-e-wallets-to-unlink-from-online-gambling-platforms\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/philippine-central-bank-orders-e-wallets-to-unlink-from-online-gambling-platforms\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">the removal of gambling links from e-wallet platforms<\/a> within 48 hours. Senators warned of potential contempt charges if there are delays.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lawmakers are split between prohibiting online gambling and reinforcing existing regulations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":680,"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 Philippine Senate is currently deliberating between an outright prohibition of online gambling and the implementation of more stringent regulatory controls, amidst a significant increase in sector revenues. Key legislative proposals include a total ban, alongside measures to restrict e-wallet use and enhance regulatory oversight, as authorities acknowledge challenges in enforcing against a proliferation of illegal sites. This legislative uncertainty poses significant implications for licensed Philippine Inland Gaming Operators (PIGOs) and the broader iGaming ecosystem.","focusai_entities":"Joel Villanueva, Pia Cayetano, Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR), Alejandro Tengco, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP)","focusai_location":"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 (0.8), marketing_crm (0.9), payments_fraud_aml (1.0), investor_analyst (1.0), supplier_vendor (0.9), journalist_researcher (1.0)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Impact on PIGO Licenses","query":"What specific provisions are being considered to grandfather existing Philippine Inland Gaming Operator (PIGO) licenses or manage their transition in the event of a partial or full ban?"},{"label":"Regulatory Enforcement Efficacy","query":"Given PAGCOR's acknowledgment of over 3,000 illegal sites, what enhanced enforcement mechanisms and inter-agency coordination strategies are proposed to effectively combat unlicensed operations under the strengthened regulatory framework?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[24628,154,158,16333],"tags":[225,4138,24804],"class_list":["post-777030343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-highlight-of-the-week","category-legislation-news","category-slider-home","category-south-east-asia-news","tag-legislation","tag-online-gambling","tag-the-philippines"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777030343","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=777030343"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777030343\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777030367,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777030343\/revisions\/777030367"}],"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=777030343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777030343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777030343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}