A Philippine lawmaker is said to be drafting a bill – to be submitted in the next seating of the House of Representatives – seeking to curb what he says is a growing integration of mobile electronic wallets with online gambling platforms.
According to local media reports, representative Jonathan Keith Flores cautioned this week that the growing integration of e-wallets – such as GCash and Maya – with gambling platforms has made it alarmingly easy to top up online betting accounts and continue gambling.
Some of these e-wallets feature a section where users can easily access various online gambling platforms, such as digital casinos and sports betting. A number of online gambling platforms allow users to instantly deposit funds to gamble using their e-wallets, with the information shared by these e-wallets also serving for registration purposes with the gambling platforms.
These gambling platforms are accredited by the country’s gaming regulator, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (Pagcor).
The Daily Tribune newspaper cited Mr Flores as saying: “From the e-wallet itself, there is a list of games. It’s so convenient for someone with an e-wallet to load or top up to continue playing online gambling. So, people are more motivated to gamble more.”
According to the lawmaker, the fact that some e-wallets also provide loans could further exacerbate addiction to gambling.
Digital advertising, according to the representative, should also be targeted by the bill. “We should also restrict [advertising] because gambling information is easily available,” Mr Flores reportedly said.
He said the bill – which he plans to submit in late July – proposes to disconnect e-wallets and fintech platforms from gambling sites, block payment processing for online betting, and impose stricter safeguards on digital financial services.
