The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) has successfully shut down 5,793 of the 7,747 identified illegal online gambling websites in the country . Despite these achievements, 1,954 websites are still operating, posing an ongoing challenge to regulators.
Raul Villanueva, Senior Vice President of PAGCOR Security Monitoring Department, held a public hearing on the Anti-Online Gambling Bill before the Senate Committee on July 16 The complex process was detailed at the meeting.
According to Villanueva, PAGCOR monitors various illegal activities, not only focusing on online games, but also on other platforms, such as electronic gambling and Facebook Advertisements, mobile applications, offshore websites, and spam on different communication channels such as Telegram.
The agency uses two main methods to block these websites: URL blocking and payment blocking. While URL blocking involves coordinating with the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to restrict access, payment blocking presents a more complex challenge. Many illegal operators use cryptocurrencies and offshore banking systems to evade detection. However, PAGCOR has been actively partnering with local digital payment gateways such as GCash and PayMaya.
Villanueva said in a report published by The Inquirer that "based on my research, there are currently no reports on payment blocking. research, because some of these criminals use cryptocurrencies as a payment method. The banking system is very complicated, and offshore banking is very complicated. But we have reached out to payment platforms such as GCash and Maya, and we had a meeting with representatives of Gcash two weeks ago. meeting, they promised to remove these illegal websites because we only submit illegal websites to them or publish them on our website.”
Despite these efforts, PAGCOR Chairman Alejandro Tengco acknowledged that the adaptability of illegal operators poses ongoing challenges. These sites often "rebirth," reappearing with new URLs shortly after being blocked.
Despite this, there have been positive developments. The crackdown has forced some illegal operators to seek legitimacy.
PAGCOR Chairman Alejandro Tengco said, "The good news is that in the past 45 days, three large companies engaged in illegal operations or were unregistered. The company has stated that they already want to register and will exit the unregistered market.”
As of July 3, 2024, the PAGCOR Electronic Gaming Licensing Department has approved 35 gaming system service providers.
