The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) recently announced that illegal online gambling activities are rapidly spreading through social media live streams, especially rampant on the Facebook platform. PAGCOR emphasizes that any gambling live streams on social platforms are unauthorized, and participants will face legal risks.
The Cybercrime Investigation and Coordination Center (CICC) also warns that these live streams are often scam traps, enticing users with small initial profits followed by continuous increased betting, ultimately leading to severe financial damage. CICC has also revealed that some illegal gambling websites disguise themselves as government web pages, misleading the public's trust.
Currently, PAGCOR and CICC have jointly blocked 9 illegal websites, with about 150 more pending closure. Most platform servers are located in Myanmar, Bangladesh, and Thailand, increasing the difficulty of law enforcement. CICC is applying for government funding to develop AI tools to automatically identify gambling-related content and will initiate criminal investigation procedures against local internet celebrities.
The regulatory bodies urge the public to stay away from unauthorized gambling activities and state that they will cooperate with legislative bodies to promote the upgrade of online gambling governance.
