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Read Full BioAn influential member of the Philippines’ Senate has launched a bid to ban online gambling in the nation.
In a Senate press release released late last week, Senator Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri was quoted as stating that he would unveil a bill named the Anti-Online Gambling Act of 2025.
Zubiri was first elected to the Senate in 2016. He served as the Senate President of the Philippines from July 25, 2022, to May 20, 2024.
His bill seeks to ban all forms of online gambling activity in the Philippines. The proposal would see Manila place a blanket ban on “digital betting platforms, mobile applications, and websites that allow users to place wagers through phones, tablets, and computers.”
Will Philippines Senate Back Blanket Betting Ban?
The draft law would also require IP providers and mobile network services to block user access to illegal domestic or overseas betting platforms that target Filipinos.
IP providers and mobile carriers who fail to comply with the draft law would be fined. Repeat offenders could face suspension orders, the draft bill notes.
Zubiri called online betting a “silent epidemic,” and said that gambling in the Philippines “now looks like a kid with a phone under the covers at 2 AM, losing the family’s grocery money on an online casino site.”
The Senator said that Filipino youth were now particularly vulnerable to gambling addiction. He called on fellow senators to back his bill.
On July 8, Manila Bulletin quoted Zubiri as urging: “Let’s not earn [money] at the expense of our people. We passed a law taxing Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO) operations in the country, and it did not stop the [spread of this] moral scourge to society. […] Children are learning to lie, to steal, to cheat just to fund their next bet.”
He said that the government’s attempt to “shut the doors on POGOs for the damage they caused” had not stopped an even more dangerous problem from creeping into Filipino homes.
Government Favors Taxes and Regulations Over Ban
The government currently looks unlikely to back Zubiri’s proposal. Media outlets have reported that the Department of Finance is instead considering rolling out new taxes and stricter regulations for the online gaming sector.
Manila Bulletin also reported that Malacañang, the Presidential Palace, “would not oppose any measure seeking to address gambling addiction among Filipinos.”
Such measures, it noted, could include the imposition of new taxes on online gambling operators.
Palace Press Officer and Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro said that President Bongbong Marcos was “aware that the new tax would restrict online gambling.”
Meanwhile, another senator has also proposed alternatives to an outright ban. A draft bill launched by Senator Sherwin Gatchalian proposes the prohibition of betting games that use electronic wallets.
Similar proposals have also been floated in the lower parliamentary house in recent weeks. Gatchalian’s bill also calls for gambling platforms to adhere to minimum cash-in thresholds of $177.
The regulatory Amusement and Gaming Corporation states that it is aware of the rise in illegal betting platforms. It claims it remains fully committed to combating the rise of unregistered online betting services.
