PH Senator pushes a Ban to POGOs and All Sort of Online Gambling...

[AbuBhakar]

PAGCOR could not shut them down immediately because they are benefiting from the operation; that's how corrupt the government agency is. They are the ones regulating it, but they failed to see that these POGOs have already become a haven for scammers. And Philippine law is not strict in enforcement, so the operators aren’t too worried. Just imagine—they invested billions of money into this, and the government would just stop it immediately? It’s not fair. I think the main problem here is the lack of regulation by PAGCOR. That’s what they need to improve, rather than stopping the operation when the government is greatly benefiting from it.

Corruption aside, Some tax gained on POGO was distributed to the national funds which is use by different sector that helps citizens. I think POGO in general is good because it gives revenue to our country but the only problem is poor regulations on this business that’s why it’s commonly use for illegal transactions which is not related to POGO anymore.

Politicians is just using this issue to gain sympathy of voters since election is near without thinking logically. Our country will benefit on it through proper regulation. This is same case to customs which there’s still a lot of smuggle goods.

[coin-investor]

Still a long way to go before there is going to be a blanket ban on POGO. And even if the President ordered it, might take sometime, they will have to enact a law first before they can shut it down for good.

And then they will have to cooperate with PAGCOR (Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation), so it's not at easy as it sounds. And base on other reports, some of the legal POGO's are still operating as of this time because they haven't seen any notice yet from PAGCOR. And we have seen odds as well of online gambling proliferating in Facebook that includes the legendary Manny Pacquiao.

PAGCOR could not shut them down immediately because they are benefiting from the operation; that's how corrupt the government agency is. They are the ones regulating it, but they failed to see that these POGOs have already become a haven for scammers. And Philippine law is not strict in enforcement, so the operators aren’t too worried. Just imagine—they invested billions of money into this, and the government would just stop it immediately? It’s not fair. I think the main problem here is the lack of regulation by PAGCOR. That’s what they need to improve, rather than stopping the operation when the government is greatly benefiting from it.

I agree that a lack of regulation and monitoring caused the banning of POGO; the industry was infiltrated by bad actors. It should not have been this way if only some corrupt officials had not allowed it, but in a third-world country like the Philippines, when money talks, everybody listens, and money can buy almost everything here the bad actors can buy loyalty and trust, can you imagine a POGO operator is also the mayor of the town where the POGO is being operated.

Here is the timeline of the case of former Mayor Alice Guo, who found his way to rule in a town where she was operating his POGO company.

TIMELINE: The plots and twists of the 'Alice Guo' probe

[carlfebz2]

Still a long way to go before there is going to be a blanket ban on POGO. And even if the President ordered it, might take sometime, they will have to enact a law first before they can shut it down for good.

And then they will have to cooperate with PAGCOR (Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation), so it's not at easy as it sounds. And base on other reports, some of the legal POGO's are still operating as of this time because they haven't seen any notice yet from PAGCOR. And we have seen odds as well of online gambling proliferating in Facebook that includes the legendary Manny Pacquiao.

PAGCOR could not shut them down immediately because they are benefiting from the operation; that's how corrupt the government agency is. They are the ones regulating it, but they failed to see that these POGOs have already become a haven for scammers. And Philippine law is not strict in enforcement, so the operators aren’t too worried. Just imagine—they invested billions of money into this, and the government would just stop it immediately? It’s not fair. I think the main problem here is the lack of regulation by PAGCOR. That’s what they need to improve, rather than stopping the operation when the government is greatly benefiting from it.

I agree that a lack of regulation and monitoring caused the banning of POGO; the industry was infiltrated by bad actors. It should not have been this way if only some corrupt officials had not allowed it, but in a third-world country like the Philippines, when money talks, everybody listens, and money can buy almost everything here the bad actors can buy loyalty and trust, can you imagine a POGO operator is also the mayor of the town where the POGO is being operated.

Here is the timeline of the case of former Mayor Alice Guo, who found his way to rule in a town where she was operating his POGO company.

TIMELINE: The plots and twists of the 'Alice Guo' probe

Money can buy and changed everything or most likely that it would really be able to altered out even laws and regulations specially into a place or country where its officials or governing bodies are really that
having that corruption on which there would really be those bypasses on which those certain things could really be able operate out without being detected just because there are protectors who are really that sitting on the government on which this is something that normal nowadays. On the moment that they do get bust up then of course it would be that too obvious on whose the one is really that behind.
Good thing that with these violators get caught in the end of the line on which this proves out that money cant save you up anytime on the moment that you are proven guilty.

[shasan]

Corruption aside, Some tax gained on POGO was distributed to the national funds which is use by different sector that helps citizens. I think POGO in general is good because it gives revenue to our country but the only problem is poor regulations on this business that’s why it’s commonly use for illegal transactions which is not related to POGO anymore.

Politicians is just using this issue to gain sympathy of voters since election is near without thinking logically. Our country will benefit on it through proper regulation. This is same case to customs which there’s still a lot of smuggle goods.

Corruption is always bad and it should not be tolerated able by any means. I think if POGO is corrupted but provided tax to the national funds I do not still think that they should tolerateable hence the should be faced judgment as bad and good things can't move by parallel.

[crwth]

Corruption aside, Some tax gained on POGO was distributed to the national funds which is use by different sector that helps citizens. I think POGO in general is good because it gives revenue to our country but the only problem is poor regulations on this business that’s why it’s commonly use for illegal transactions which is not related to POGO anymore.

Politicians is just using this issue to gain sympathy of voters since election is near without thinking logically. Our country will benefit on it through proper regulation. This is same case to customs which there’s still a lot of smuggle goods.

Corruption is always bad and it should not be tolerated able by any means. I think if POGO is corrupted but provided tax to the national funds I do not still think that they should tolerateable hence the should be faced judgment as bad and good things can't move by parallel.

There is a lot of money coming in from the POGOs, but they have more negatives than positives in terms of the amount of benefits that are happening. More and more people could become victims because of it and it just makes the world worse. It's important to have a clear conscience rather than be corrupted.

[shasan]

There is a lot of money coming in from the POGOs, but they have more negatives than positives in terms of the amount of benefits that are happening. More and more people could become victims because of it and it just makes the world worse. It's important to have a clear conscience rather than be corrupted.

As you are saying that they are taking more and giving to less people then that is something like a Ponzi scheme which may make people loser more and more people. I do not support Ponzi and I think no one should support it like this and GOVT has taken the perfect steps.

[Oasisman]

There is a lot of money coming in from the POGOs.

That's actually the danger if the government did not decide to put a stop on all POGO operations in the country. The amount of money they earn in a monthly and yearly basis will be enough to expand and fund their standardize crime and corruption as it had been unknown for several years that they are already part of their business model.
I think, POGOs can actually do good than harm if they did not incorporate these negative things to their business, as they can generate local employment and a huge addition to the city's revenue.

[Kemarit]

Corruption aside, Some tax gained on POGO was distributed to the national funds which is use by different sector that helps citizens. I think POGO in general is good because it gives revenue to our country but the only problem is poor regulations on this business that’s why it’s commonly use for illegal transactions which is not related to POGO anymore.

Politicians is just using this issue to gain sympathy of voters since election is near without thinking logically. Our country will benefit on it through proper regulation. This is same case to customs which there’s still a lot of smuggle goods.

Corruption is always bad and it should not be tolerated able by any means. I think if POGO is corrupted but provided tax to the national funds I do not still think that they should tolerateable hence the should be faced judgment as bad and good things can't move by parallel.

There is a lot of money coming in from the POGOs, but they have more negatives than positives in terms of the amount of benefits that are happening. More and more people could become victims because of it and it just makes the world worse. It's important to have a clear conscience rather than be corrupted.

In the beginning, this could have been what the Philippine government is thinking, that they could generate a lot of money, from tax and if I'm not mistaken, it really started to boom during the pandemic. When there is no income being generated by the government because obviously, everything is in the lock down and then they have to give back to the people during that time.

However, they didn't anticipate the extend of what is going to happen in the future with this project. Because after that it gotten worse, people are being kidnapped, tortured or even killed just for the sake of collecting money. Now it has been exposed even further with government officials involved in the creation of more illegal POGO's in the country. However, it seems that they will just rebrand itself so it will not continue, IMHO.

[Botnake]

According to the latest updates on the banning of POGOs, workers have until October 15, 2024, to leave the country. After that, their working visas will expire and be downgraded to tourist visas. POGO operators have agreed to cease operations, but it’s a process and won’t stop immediately. Most likely, once they’re out of workers, their operations will come to a halt, with October 15 being the final day of their business.

However, we can’t be sure if all operations will completely stop, as the talks only involved licensed POGO operators. There are still many unlicensed or illegal ones, which is why the government has a task force focused on shutting them down for good.

As for Alice Guo, the most well-known figure in the POGO world, she has yet to reveal the mastermind behind everything. She claims to be a victim herself, saying there’s a real mastermind behind the scenes. There’s been some finger-pointing, so this will be interesting to follow. I just hope the government doesn’t sensationalize this issue to distract from bigger concerns that truly matter to the Filipino people.

[coin-investor]

There is a lot of money coming in from the POGOs, but they have more negatives than positives in terms of the amount of benefits that are happening. More and more people could become victims because of it and it just makes the world worse. It's important to have a clear conscience rather than be corrupted.

As you are saying that they are taking more and giving to less people then that is something like a Ponzi scheme which may make people loser more and more people. I do not support Ponzi and I think no one should support it like this and GOVT has taken the perfect steps.

No its far from being a Ponzi scheme, its like these POGO's are making a lot of money from their operations but the amount of money they are paying to the Philippine government is less than what they are making This is because of lack of transparency.

The government is babysitting these POGO operations because of the taxes and the employment they provide to the people of the Philippines, It was just lately that these POGOs were exposed as a hub of human trafficking and many abuses that led to investigation and termination of their licenses.

[ultrloa]

There is a lot of money coming in from the POGOs, but they have more negatives than positives in terms of the amount of benefits that are happening. More and more people could become victims because of it and it just makes the world worse. It's important to have a clear conscience rather than be corrupted.

As you are saying that they are taking more and giving to less people then that is something like a Ponzi scheme which may make people loser more and more people. I do not support Ponzi and I think no one should support it like this and GOVT has taken the perfect steps.

No its far from being a Ponzi scheme, its like these POGO's are making a lot of money from their operations but the amount of money they are paying to the Philippine government is less than what they are making This is because of lack of transparency.

The government is babysitting these POGO operations because of the taxes and the employment they provide to the people of the Philippines, It was just lately that these POGOs were exposed as a hub of human trafficking and many abuses that led to investigation and termination of their licenses.

Its far from Ponzi scheme since the downside of their operation is the illegalities like scamming,human trafficking,tortures and many more. This is widely the main concern of the government that's why they go after with these companies and put a lot of efforts to ban it on Philippines.

If they are just  focusing on online gambling operation and have license for this for sure that government will not sue them. Because as far as I know online gambling is not yet illegal in Philippines.

But this syndicate choose to do more illegal activities that's why I agree that government should do some action and eliminate them in their jurisdiction.

[Zoomic]

There is a lot of money coming in from the POGOs, but they have more negatives than positives in terms of the amount of benefits that are happening. More and more people could become victims because of it and it just makes the world worse. It's important to have a clear conscience rather than be corrupted.

As you are saying that they are taking more and giving to less people then that is something like a Ponzi scheme which may make people loser more and more people. I do not support Ponzi and I think no one should support it like this and GOVT has taken the perfect steps.

No its far from being a Ponzi scheme, its like these POGO's are making a lot of money from their operations but the amount of money they are paying to the Philippine government is less than what they are making This is because of lack of transparency.

The government is babysitting these POGO operations because of the taxes and the employment they provide to the people of the Philippines, It was just lately that these POGOs were exposed as a hub of human trafficking and many abuses that led to investigation and termination of their licenses.

If these POGOs were able to successfully carryout their criminal operations all these while without the government knowing because there was no transparency, then the government too is partly at fault for not monitoring the activities of this gambling sites thoroughly. They are only trying to cleanup their mess now by dragging some of these innocent gambling sites which they have banned into the mess they neglected.

Just as OP has said, a proper regulation and a gambling monitoring policy would be better than an outright ban. Right now, all parties are affected; the gamblers, the online gambling sites and even the government who would no longer be getting revenue from these sites.

[mirakal]

Corruption aside, Some tax gained on POGO was distributed to the national funds which is use by different sector that helps citizens. I think POGO in general is good because it gives revenue to our country but the only problem is poor regulations on this business that’s why it’s commonly use for illegal transactions which is not related to POGO anymore.

Politicians is just using this issue to gain sympathy of voters since election is near without thinking logically. Our country will benefit on it through proper regulation. This is same case to customs which there’s still a lot of smuggle goods.

Corruption is always bad and it should not be tolerated able by any means. I think if POGO is corrupted but provided tax to the national funds I do not still think that they should tolerateable hence the should be faced judgment as bad and good things can't move by parallel.

Hence, as much as POGO shouldn't exist anymore, then these corrupt politicians should not be tolerated as well. They will eventually stop their modus operations if the source itself like POGO won't be here any longer. So I'm actually more on the positive side that without POGO, there will be less corruption on the government, and this money laundering and trafficking will somehow be controlled as well, since it will be hardly impossible to be completely gone in a government.

[stadus]

If these POGOs were able to successfully carryout their criminal operations all these while without the government knowing because there was no transparency, then the government too is partly at fault for not monitoring the activities of this gambling sites thoroughly. They are only trying to cleanup their mess now by dragging some of these innocent gambling sites which they have banned into the mess they neglected.

Just as OP has said, a proper regulation and a gambling monitoring policy would be better than an outright ban. Right now, all parties are affected; the gamblers, the online gambling sites and even the government who would no longer be getting revenue from these sites.

You have no idea how massive corruption is in the Philippines. It’s not about the laws themselves; the issue lies in their implementation. These POGO operators may be paying bribes to government officials—they're essentially a syndicate. One person currently on trial is Alice Gou, who was a mayor of a city with some POGO operations. She reportedly has billions of pesos, which can't be justified by her salary, as she doesn't even earn 1 million pesos per month. And just recently, there was a revelation about a mastermind behind all of this. So really, it’s a big syndicate, and if the corruption comes from within the government, how can they properly regulate them?

and now she claimed that she was only a victim.

'I'm a victim,' Alice Guo says as she denies masterminding POGOs

[Zoomic]

If these POGOs were able to successfully carryout their criminal operations all these while without the government knowing because there was no transparency, then the government too is partly at fault for not monitoring the activities of this gambling sites thoroughly. They are only trying to cleanup their mess now by dragging some of these innocent gambling sites which they have banned into the mess they neglected.

Just as OP has said, a proper regulation and a gambling monitoring policy would be better than an outright ban. Right now, all parties are affected; the gamblers, the online gambling sites and even the government who would no longer be getting revenue from these sites.

You have no idea how massive corruption is in the Philippines. It’s not about the laws themselves; the issue lies in their implementation. These POGO operators may be paying bribes to government officials—they're essentially a syndicate. One person currently on trial is Alice Gou, who was a mayor of a city with some POGO operations. She reportedly has billions of pesos, which can't be justified by her salary, as she doesn't even earn 1 million pesos per month. And just recently, there was a revelation about a mastermind behind all of this. So really, it’s a big syndicate, and if the corruption comes from within the government, how can they properly regulate them?

and now she claimed that she was only a victim.

'I'm a victim,' Alice Guo says as she denies masterminding POGOs

You are right, I am not from Philippines and cannot really say much about the level of corruption in Philippines. Alot have been said here about the POGOs and the government and I still maintain that it is impossible for this group to have carried out these criminal activities alone. The government gave them that enabling environment to strive. Right now, they are only realising that everything has gone out proportion that is why they are banning all forms of online gambling instead of regulating the system.

There are still good gambling site among those who were banned, but this is the government cleaning the mess they too contributed to. I have felt the impact of corruption before and I must say, no form of corruption strives without the help of the corrupt government officials.

[South Park]

You are right, I am not from Philippines and cannot really say much about the level of corruption in Philippines. Alot have been said here about the POGOs and the government and I still maintain that it is impossible for this group to have carried out these criminal activities alone. The government gave them that enabling environment to strive. Right now, they are only realising that everything has gone out proportion that is why they are banning all forms of online gambling instead of regulating the system.

There are still good gambling site among those who were banned, but this is the government cleaning the mess they too contributed to. I have felt the impact of corruption before and I must say, no form of corruption strives without the help of the corrupt government officials.

For any criminal activity to grow to the magnitude we have seen with these POGOs, the government and the police must be involved, since it is impossible for such a growth to not bring unwanted attention, it is only now that things seem to have gotten out of control that the government wants to do something to stop it, but even if a law was passed against it, not much will change if the same corrupt officials are in charge of applying the law.

[ImThour]

Damn, this is a hard decision for people of Philippines but on the other hand, it can also save money of them from a drug called Gambling. The addiction is true and can take years to get rid of. But it shouldn't be a decision of a government if one wants to gamble or not. Should be in the hand of the user itself, like where's the freedom or rights? Let's hope they will find a way to bet on their fav team.

[bisdak40]

Damn, this is a hard decision for people of Philippines but on the other hand, it can also save money of them from a drug called Gambling. The addiction is true and can take years to get rid of. But it shouldn't be a decision of a government if one wants to gamble or not. Should be in the hand of the user itself, like where's the freedom or rights? Let's hope they will find a way to bet on their fav team.

I believe the Filipino people are largely unaffected by the Philippine government’s decision to ban illegal POGOs, as the activities primarily involve foreigners. The ban is a response to the rising crime rate, where both the victims and suspects are predominantly foreigners.

[stadus]

There are still good gambling site among those who were banned, but this is the government cleaning the mess they too contributed to. I have felt the impact of corruption before and I must say, no form of corruption strives without the help of the corrupt government officials.

I hope there is some good ones, but considering they're operated by the Chinese, they’re probably the same group running it under different company names. This case became more controversial due to Alice Guo being accused of possibly being a Chinese spy, so it’s not just about illegal gambling operators or whatever scams are happening inside POGO.

It’s still a hot topic in the Philippines since Congress and the Senate are investigating it endlessly, as if it’s the only issue in the country. I’m not sure why this case seems never-ending; they’re supposed to investigate in aid of legislation, but how is the public actually benefiting from this?

Damn, this is a hard decision for people of Philippines but on the other hand, it can also save money of them from a drug called Gambling.

They don’t cater to Filipino gamblers, as most of their clients are likely from China and neighboring countries.

However, the government is losing out on tax revenue, but they have no choice since crimes associated with these POGO hubs have been on the rise.

Data sent by the Department of Finance to Philstar.com on Friday showed that total tax revenues reaped from POGOs skyrocketed 127% year-on-year to P8.878 billion in 2022. This was significantly larger compared to the P3.91 billion raked in back in 2021.

[traderethereum]

It is difficult if that is related to the corrupt officials because they can arrange the bill with the other so it seems they protect their people who involve with the business but it could trap other people who do it. I think the government need to change the bill or the policy and will do something strictly to those who corrupt and not just banning POGO.
I don't know the situation for real but if the bill is release and seems not unfair, there may be interest from several parties behind who want to protect their business. The government should watch their officials and make sure that they can work with honest and will catch every corrupt officials.
But that will not easy as it seems their work can organize better so no one will know for sure. Banning offshore gambling operators and online gambling will not solve the spread of illegal gambling activities in a country because people will trying to gambling in underground casino which will many more corrupt officials involved.