{"id":777039446,"date":"2026-03-20T10:09:05","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T13:09:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777039446"},"modified":"2026-04-21T13:17:30","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T16:17:30","slug":"calls-for-government-action-against-illegal-gambling-in-pangasinan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/calls-for-government-action-against-illegal-gambling-in-pangasinan","title":{"rendered":"Calls for government action against illegal gambling in Pangasinan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A campaign group is calling for coordinated action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The Philippines.- Voltaire Tolentino<\/strong>, founder of the group Fight Against Illegal and Rigged Games <\/strong>(F.A.I.R. Games), is calling for stronger support from local government units (LGUs) to combat illegal gambling in Pangasinan<\/strong>. He warns that police efforts alone are not enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tolentino says illegal betting activities such as colour games, \u201cdrop ball\u201d and others continue to operate openly and often resume shortly after enforcement actions. \u201cPolice operations leading to some arrests are not enough without the full backing of the government,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tolentino also emphasised the need to clearly distinguish between legal and illegal gambling, pointing to government-authorised systems such as the Small Town Lottery (STL) as regulated alternatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The STL, operated under the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO), was introduced to curb illegal numbers games like jueteng while generating funds for public programmes. However, Tolentino says illegal operators run a \u201cparallel gambling economy<\/strong>\u201d that undermines its purpose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added that similar illegal activities have been reported in nearby provinces, with some networks allegedly linked to Pangasinan.<\/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 police arrest four over alleged illegal online gambling hub in Cebu<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A campaign group is calling for coordinated action.<\/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":"A campaign group, F.A.I.R. Games, is advocating for enhanced support from local government units in Pangasinan, Philippines, to effectively combat persistent illegal gambling operations. The group highlights that current police efforts are insufficient, as illicit activities like \"colour games\" and \"drop ball\" continue to undermine regulated alternatives such as the Small Town Lottery (STL) and create a parallel gambling economy. This situation underscores significant challenges in regulatory compliance and market integrity within the region.","focusai_entities":"Voltaire Tolentino, Fight Against Illegal and Rigged Games (F.A.I.R. Games), Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO), Philippine police","focusai_location":"Philippines, Pangasinan, Cebu","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (0.9), operator_casino (0.9), payments_fraud_aml (0.7), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.7), journalist_researcher (1.0)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"LGU Enforcement Impact","query":"What specific governance framework enhancements are being proposed to empower Local Government Units (LGUs) in the Philippines to more effectively combat illegal gambling operations, and what is the projected timeline for their implementation?"},{"label":"STL Market Share","query":"How has the \"parallel gambling economy\" in Pangasinan specifically impacted the GGR and NGR of the Small Town Lottery (STL) operated by PCSO, and what measures are being considered to reclaim market share from illicit operators?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[439,16333],"tags":[20326,24804],"class_list":["post-777039446","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\/777039446","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=777039446"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777039446\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777039465,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777039446\/revisions\/777039465"}],"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=777039446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777039446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777039446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}