The Philippines' crackdown on illegal online gambling continues to escalate. Recently, officials publicly warned that some unlicensed online gambling platforms are manipulating data and defrauding players, causing significant financial losses to many victims. These platforms often operate under the guise of legality but are actually fraud traps.
The Philippine Anti-Cybercrime Center has also intervened, with officials stating that 19 websites involved in illegal gambling have been ordered to be taken down, and social media platforms are urged to remove related advertisements and promotional content. The center also emphasized that social media influencers, KOLs, or online broadcasters who help promote these platforms could face criminal prosecution if evidence is conclusive and will be held accountable according to the law.
Currently, most of these illegal gambling platforms have their funding channels and technical backends set up overseas, with only small promotional teams based in the Philippines. These teams attract influencers with high commissions, with some earning up to 500,000 pesos per week. However, authorities have initiated a targeted crackdown on such illegal promotional activities, gradually tightening enforcement.
Official data shows that the revenue from the Philippine electronic gambling industry has surpassed that of traditional casinos, becoming the mainstay of the gambling market. However, the rapid expansion of illegal platforms has raised public concerns, including gambling addiction and frequent fraud cases among the populace. Although there are internal government proposals to completely ban online gambling, regulatory and enforcement challenges remain due to transnational capital flows and the difficulty in tracking down the masterminds behind these operations.
