32 million Filipinos are into online gambling
The Senate expressed alarm after it found that 32 million Filipinos are engaging in online gambling.
In a hearing conducted by the Senate Committee on Games and Amusements, Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian shared that there are 32.117 million "e-game players" from January to May 2025.
The figure, which was gathered from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation, was a 291% increase from 8.2 million players in 2024 and amounted to one-third of the Philippine population.
The Philippine Statistics Authority previously reported that the country's population has reached 112.73 million as of July 2024.
The spike in players started during the COVID-19 pandemic. There were 482,000 recorded in 2020, 767,000 in 2021, 1.447 million in 2022, and 2.445 million in 2023.
Gatchalian lamented that the numbers could "easily jump" to 60 million if no measures are taken.
He suggested that e-wallet platforms should be delinked from online gambling sites or be banned entirely from being used to place bets.
"It is simple: Let us not allow banks and e-wallets to be linked to online gambling, whether illegal or legal. Our request is to completely delink. Let us not wait for the number to rise to 60 million Filipino gamblers," he said.
However, PAGCOR Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Alejandro Tengco expressed misgivings on a total ban on online gambling, explaining that the online gambling industry led to P60 billion in revenues due to license fees and P32 million income for the agency in 2025. This allowed them to contribute P23.6 billion for corporate social responsibility and P7.59 billion for universal health care.
"To be honest with you, we really are trying to catch up with this trajectory of exponential growth in online gambling. This hearing is also a good opportunity for Pagcor to see and analyze what can still be done to better regulate this sector, so that our citizens who patronize online gambling will not be addicted," Tengco said.
While he acknowledged complaints about addiction from family members, he claimed that the agency has not received reports of suicide due to the inability to pay debts.
Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri, however, refuted Tengco's claim. He presented a Bukidnon native named Arsenia Concha, whose son committed suicide after incurring online gambling debt by playing scatter. The politician noted how the link from the digital wallet easily led him to engage in online gambling.
"What we ultimately want is to delink, that they cannot use digital wallets to pay online gambling platforms. Right now, you have taken gambling home, to our children and parents, because of the e-wallets. In the absence of these e-wallets, the number of online gamblers would not be as high as 32 million Filipinos," Zubiri said.
On Thursday, Aug. 14, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas has given e-wallet platforms 48 hours to unlink from online gambling sites.
It's expected that the links will no longer be available by Sunday morning, according to BSP Deputy Governor Mamerto Tangonan.
As for violators, Tangonan said, "We will also sanction the concerned (e-wallet platforms)." (with reports from Marc Jayson Cayabyab)
