A senior official of the Philippine gaming regulator says it has “a lot more targets under surveillance” regarding a crackdown on providers of unauthorised online gambling services operating from that nation.
The remarks by Raul Villanueva, a senior vice president for security at the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (Pagcor), were contained in a Friday release about a raid that day in Parañaque City in the capital Manila.
“The operation was part of our unified efforts to intensify the fight against illegal online gambling because we have a marching order from Pagcor chairman Alejandro Tengco to put a stop to these illegal activities,” Mr Villanueva was cited as saying.
“We will continuously collaborate with law enforcement authorities such as the PNP [Philippine National Police] and even the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency to put a stop” to such unlicensed trading, he added.
“We advise the public to stop patronising illegal online gaming sites and instead play on legal platforms to protect themselves. Unfortunately, most of the victims of these illegal sites are Filipino bettors,” stated the Pagcor security official.
He further noted: “We are also working closely with the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center under the Department of Information and Communications Technology because we have a lot more targets under surveillance.”
Friday’s raid was against people allegedly linked to a website branded “tbb888” (picture supplied by Pagcor), which the regulator said meant “The Big Bet”. They had been under surveillance for a month, according to the statement.
A total of 12 people suspected of involvement in illegal online gaming operations was arrested. Mr Villanueva said the aim of the authorities was to file cases with the Parañaque Regional Trial Court.
The arrests were made by the National Capital Region Police Office and the Anti-Cybercrime Group of the PNP, with a Pagcor monitoring team in attendance.
The authorities seized “11 computer sets, 21 mobile phones, two iPads, six laptops and flash drives,” according to a statement attributed to Mr Tengco.
