The Philippines’ gambling regulator, PAGCOR, is accelerating efforts to remove the country from the FATF grey list. As part of this initiative, it has blocked 74.78% of detected illegal iGaming websites.
Ret. Gen. Raul Villanueva, President of PAGCOR’s Security Monitoring Cluster, highlighted the challenges in combating the black market, noting the complexity of payment blocking due to the use of cryptocurrency and offshore banking.
Villanueva mentioned that PAGCOR is working with payment portals like GCash and Maya to purge illegal sites and has strengthened ties with social media giants to reduce unlicensed gambling ads. This has significantly cut exposure to illegal sabong on platforms like Facebook, although activity has shifted to chat groups on Telegram.
The Philippines anticipates a growth year for its iGaming sector, with a net income increase of over 120% year-over-year in the first half of 2024. Alejandro Tengco, CEO and Chair of PAGCOR, reported a 42.92% YoY increase in gross revenue to Php51.76bn, with gaming operations contributing Php45.39bn.
Tengco emphasized the importance of supporting legal operators who contribute to the economy, while law enforcement targets illicit actors. PAGCOR’s efforts also respond to Chinese government warnings about cross-border gambling crimes associated with POGOs. The Chinese embassy has stated that POGOs harm both Philippine and Chinese interests, with joint efforts leading to the shutdown of five POGO hubs and repatriation of nearly 1,000 Chinese citizens in the past year.
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