PAGCOR Chairman and CEO Alejandro Tengco told a Senate hearing into the Philippines’ domestic online gaming, or eGames, sector that online gaming transactions on licensed platforms had dropped by around 50% since an order to remove gambling-related links from e-wallets last weekend.
However, the agency also observed a uptick in users of illegal gaming platforms, according to comments reported by the Inquirer following Tengco’s latest senate appearance.
The removal of such links was ordered last week by the central bank – Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’s (BSP) Mamerto Tangonan – last week amid growing calls to crack down on eGames, which generated a record US$2 billion in GGR in the first six months of this year.
In response to the figures outlined, Tengco stated, “It’s really hard to go after [illegal sites], but I can assure that the licensed ones under our jurisdiction followed the BSP directive.”
Illegal operators, Tengco added, “give so much room to consumers so that they would get more addicted. Dor example, if you deposit Php100,000 (US$1,750) on their platform, they give four times, five times bonuses.
“Currently, 60% of what we see in the [online gaming industry] are illegal operators, meaning those who operate outside the Philippines. They operate in countries like Russia, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Cambodia – it’s really hard to go after them.”
The PAGCOR chair added that PAGCOR’s research shows there were about 12,000 illegal sites operating versus 77 licensed ones in the Philippines.
“I can assure you – there are far more illegal sites than legal sites,” Tengco said. “Everything we hear about, kids who are addicted, I can assure you that [unregulated sites] are the cause of this problem now.”
In the face of calls to ban online gambling altogether, operators and other companies have come together to instead call for a regulatory approach to the issue – warning that a total ban will not stop Filipinos from gambling online.
RelatedPosts
