Transactions for legal, licensed online gaming in the Philippines have dropped by as much as 50 percent since the country’s central bank, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), last week ordered e-wallet companies to remove all links to online gambling sites from Saturday (August 16).
That is according to comment on Wednesday by Alejandro Tengco (pictured in a file photo), chairman and chief executive of the country’s gaming regulator, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (Pagcor). He was speaking during a House of Representatives committee session on 2026 budget matters.
“Pagcor is observing, from Sunday to yesterday [Tuesday], online gaming transactions fell by perhaps 50 percent” at legally authorised providers, stated Mr Tengco, according to local media citing his remarks to the committee.
“I can assure that the licensed ones under our jurisdiction followed the BSP directive,” he said.
BSP Memorandum No. 2025-29, issued by the bank’s deputy governor Mamerto Tangonan, ordered e-wallet platforms to remove their in-app features promoting or allowing users to access e-gambling sites.
But Mr Tengco added Pagcor had seen a rise in use in the Philippines in what he termed “illegal” online gaming platforms since the BSP’s instruction on e-wallets, issued last Thursday.
“It’s really hard to go after them [unlicensed sites],” he stated.
“Currently, 60 percent of what we see in the [online gaming industry] are illegal operators: meaning those who operate outside the Philippines,” Mr Tengco told the committee.
Based on Pagcor’s daily checks, it had identified about 12,000 non-Philippines-licensed online gaming sites in operation – compared to the 77 that are licensed in the country.
The Pagcor boss said: “They operate in countries like Russia, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Cambodia … it’s really hard to go after them.”
Though Mr Tengco also noted that the country’s enforcement authorities, including the Department of Information and Communications Technology, the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center, and the National Bureau of Investigation, had “put down 8,000 of the almost 12,000 illegal sites we have reported to them”.
The Pagcor chief was quoted as saying that the unlicensed providers “give so much room to consumers so that they would get more addicted …. For example, if you deposit PHP100,000 [US$1,750] on their platform, they give four times, five times bonuses.”
Representative Brian Poe named during the committee session eight unlicensed providers he said were generating “US$50 million to US$70 million every month” from Filipino consumers, without being subject either to the 30 percent of revenue due as fees for legal operators, or the regulatory oversight required for lawfully-licensed providers.
Mr Tengco said the eight mentioned by Mr Poe “still operate in the Philippines and are part of the 12,000 sites” that his agency has reported.
