{"id":777030563,"date":"2025-08-20T07:59:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-20T10:59:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777030563"},"modified":"2026-04-21T19:58:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T22:58:16","slug":"online-gambling-transactions-in-the-philippines-down-50-since-e-wallets-ban-according-to-pagcor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/online-gambling-transactions-in-the-philippines-down-50-since-e-wallets-ban-according-to-pagcor","title":{"rendered":"Philippine online gambling transactions fall 50% after e-wallets ban, PAGCOR CEO says"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has banned e-wallets from linking to online gaming platforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>The Philippines.- Alejandro Tengco, CEO and chairman of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR), has said that online gambling transactions have dropped by 50 per cent since the <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\">Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) banned e-wallets<\/a> from linking to online gaming platforms from Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Tengco told the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations: \u201cBased on PAGCOR\u2019s observations, from Sunday to today, online gaming transactions went down by estimated 50 per cent due to the central bank order to e-payment platforms to delink from their integration with online gaming companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt is the BSP, which regulates the e-payment platforms, and we have been exchanging information with them. I would like to give credit to the BSP because they are also coming with stricter guidelines to control the e-payment platforms.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He added: \u201cSadly, less than 40 per cent of online gambling are legally operating \u2026 the remaining 60 per cent are illegal who are operating offshore. Our regulation is not perfect, but I am assuring the members of this committee and of the House that we are trying our best to make certain adjustments to cope with the exponential growth of online gaming, not only here in the Philippines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The BSP had directed financial institutions under its supervision to remove in-app or in-website icons and links to online gambling platforms by Sunday, August 17.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/philippine-licensed-online-gaming-firms-form-playsafe-alliance\">PlaySafe Alliance<\/a> has warned that the measure may push players toward illegal and riskier alternatives. \u201cWe commend the Senate for surfacing the central truth in its hearing: the harms highlighted, underage access, uncontrolled betting, and financial distress, stem from illegal, unlicensed platforms,&nbsp;not from Pagcor-licensed operators,\u201d the group said in a statement.<\/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\/2021\/03\/Cambodia-government-cancels-NagaCorp-Angkor-Wat-resort-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-orders-e-wallets-to-unlink-from-online-gambling-platforms'>Philippine Central Bank orders e-wallets to remove links to online gambling platforms<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has banned e-wallets from linking to online gaming platforms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":226,"featured_media":777028000,"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 Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has banned e-wallets from linking to online gaming platforms, leading to a reported 50% reduction in online gambling transactions according to PAGCOR. This regulatory action, aimed at controlling e-payment platforms, raises concerns among industry groups like the PlaySafe Alliance regarding the potential for players to migrate to unregulated, illegal offshore operators.","focusai_entities":"Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR), Alejandro Tengco, House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations, PlaySafe Alliance","focusai_location":"Philippines","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (0.9), operator_casino (1.0), affiliate_publisher (0.7), product_ux (0.7), tech_data (0.7), marketing_crm (0.7), payments_fraud_aml (1.0), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.8), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Impact on GGR","query":"What is the projected long-term impact of the BSP's e-wallet ban on the regulated iGaming Gross Gaming Revenue (GGR) in the Philippines, considering the reported 50% transaction drop and potential migration to offshore platforms?"},{"label":"Regulatory Efficacy","query":"How will PAGCOR and BSP collaborate to enhance regulatory efficacy and enforcement against the 60% of illegal offshore operators, particularly in light of the e-wallet ban potentially driving more players to these unregulated entities?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[24628,156,16333],"tags":[24861,24755,405,24804],"class_list":["post-777030563","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-highlight-of-the-week","category-regulation-news","category-south-east-asia-news","tag-ewallets","tag-online-betting","tag-pagcor","tag-the-philippines"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777030563","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=777030563"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777030563\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777030609,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777030563\/revisions\/777030609"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/777028000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777030563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777030563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777030563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}