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

[avp2306]

We can be a center for international gambling hub if the government will just regulate it properly without accepting brine to Chinese syndicate.

They did in the past administration but right now, they don't like it. This is the ugly thing about democracy in our country and every administration has their own policy.  
We always revert to zero and start from nothing every change of government leadership.

That’s actually possible. POGO could have been great since it generates a significant amount of tax revenue for the country. Unfortunately, as PAGCOR (the agency regulating POGO) mentioned, their authority is limited to checking licenses, they don’t have the capacity to monitor what’s happening inside. Solutions could be found, but without the right government to implement them, banning may just become the last resort.

If it were properly regulated, it would be a big help to the country. But ever since the influx of Chinese workers, many have come in without working visas, reportedly due to paying off immigration officials, leading to an uncontrollable situation.

By reading some post here we can say that those POGO is scary hub since it was linked to certain illegal activities like crypto scamming and torturing.

But when looking at the Tax generated last year it gives 8.8 billion pesos to Philippines government which is a lot of money generated by this POGO's.

The government’s tax intake from Philippine offshore gaming corporations (Pogos) ballooned by 127 percent to P8.88 billion last year from P3.91 billion in 2021, according to data from the Department of Finance.

Source link read it here https://business.inquirer.net/411795/dof-tax-take-from-pogos-ballooned-by-127-to-p-8-9b-in-22

If the government just regulate it and try to implement more strict rules and make sure that those crime against humanity will be eliminated then for sure that they can earn a lot which is helpful for their countries growth.

But guess they are in focus on negative sides and decide to stop this. Maybe government didn't see anything good if they allow it to continue since somehow people safety is more better than gaining money from gambling.

[retreat]

Banning online gambling is not a solution to the problem, but officials who deliberately allow illegal online casino platforms to operate - that's what the government must overcome, because from them illegal online casinos can operate freely without fear of government regulations. Because no matter how hard the government bans illegal online casinos, they will continue to grow and operate, as happened in my country, even here the government not only criminalizes gamblers/online casino operations, but also spends a lot of money just to create firewalls that prevent people from accessing online gambling sites (which are very easy to overcome with VPN). But instead of being effective, the number of online gamblers here is the same and they are not afraid of the punishment.

[Fredomago]

Banning online gambling is not a solution to the problem, but officials who deliberately allow illegal online casino platforms to operate - that's what the government must overcome, because from them illegal online casinos can operate freely without fear of government regulations. Because no matter how hard the government bans illegal online casinos, they will continue to grow and operate, as happened in my country, even here the government not only criminalizes gamblers/online casino operations, but also spends a lot of money just to create firewalls that prevent people from accessing online gambling sites (which are very easy to overcome with VPN). But instead of being effective, the number of online gamblers here is the same and they are not afraid of the punishment.

Good point,  if those people behind this business don't have any access with corrupt leaders,  they won't be able to facilitate any illegal business,  that's the first thing the government should do, passing laws regarding to this is a good step but even  there's implementation of that rules but if the leaders or any government officials which is involves to this activities then it will be easy for those facilitators to continue their business,  just need a monthly allowance for those corrupt people and they will just enjoy all the privileges.

[blockman]

We can be a center for international gambling hub if the government will just regulate it properly without accepting brine to Chinese syndicate.

They did in the past administration but right now, they don't like it. This is the ugly thing about democracy in our country and every administration has their own policy. 
We always revert to zero and start from nothing every change of government leadership.

That’s actually possible. POGO could have been great since it generates a significant amount of tax revenue for the country. Unfortunately, as PAGCOR (the agency regulating POGO) mentioned, their authority is limited to checking licenses, they don’t have the capacity to monitor what’s happening inside. Solutions could be found, but without the right government to implement them, banning may just become the last resort.

I remember in the past administration, this is one that has paid a lot of taxes and helped for more assistance to most of us. But it cannot be helped now when things have come back to normal. I agree that solutions are there and if the government will have to exercise its authority and cooperation with these, it can be helped. But on the other side of it, we've seen the dark side of these POGOs, they should operate the way it is but then they've become a den of scammers.

If it were properly regulated, it would be a big help to the country. But ever since the influx of Chinese workers, many have come in without working visas, reportedly due to paying off immigration officials, leading to an uncontrollable situation.

Extortion. 
Which has become common for processes like this and it's a sad thing. Even for passports, we've seen it happen that without going through the right process, these foreign workers can get one.

[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.

It's not the only reason though, if you will have to research, the Philippines, is in the grey area as far as (FATF Financial Action Task Force), which means we are being considered to be one of those countries that facilitates money laundering through gambling and so we have been under this watchful eyes of this financial watch dogs and for sure the current President Marcos wanted to this to erase.

We are one of those nations, together with Malta or Gibraltar which we know issues licenses to online gambling platform. Maybe believed, that online gambling is one avenue for criminals to launder money, and it could also include crimes like human trafficking, or even illegal drugs and uses this online platform to wash their money. Of course, the Philippines is making money from tax, but I haven't seen exact numbers so there is a dispute amongst Filipinos if it really benefited us or not.

Thanks for this information mate, i don't know that we are being watch by financial watch dogs for allowing money laundering to happen in our turf.

As far as the tax is concern, i also don't know if the tax from these POGOs really help our economy as operate under the radar so i think they don't pay that much.

[TravelMug]

Banning online gambling is not a solution to the problem, but officials who deliberately allow illegal online casino platforms to operate - that's what the government must overcome, because from them illegal online casinos can operate freely without fear of government regulations. Because no matter how hard the government bans illegal online casinos, they will continue to grow and operate, as happened in my country, even here the government not only criminalizes gamblers/online casino operations, but also spends a lot of money just to create firewalls that prevent people from accessing online gambling sites (which are very easy to overcome with VPN). But instead of being effective, the number of online gamblers here is the same and they are not afraid of the punishment.

Good point,  if those people behind this business don't have any access with corrupt leaders,  they won't be able to facilitate any illegal business,  that's the first thing the government should do, passing laws regarding to this is a good step but even  there's implementation of that rules but if the leaders or any government officials which is involves to this activities then it will be easy for those facilitators to continue their business,  just need a monthly allowance for those corrupt people and they will just enjoy all the privileges.

The government should still considering banning specially all about illegal casinos as the Philippines is not very deep as far as gambling is concern. You will always hear horror stories from anyone in the country now and it really saddened to hear my countrymen really getting themselves in gambling.

So hopefully POGO and everything related to gambling should be controlled and minimized by the current sitting President and those officials shouldn't make money out of this gambling operations and not be the protector. Otherwise, I don't know what the state of the country will be in the next 2 years.

[arwin100]

Banning online gambling is not a solution to the problem, but officials who deliberately allow illegal online casino platforms to operate - that's what the government must overcome, because from them illegal online casinos can operate freely without fear of government regulations. Because no matter how hard the government bans illegal online casinos, they will continue to grow and operate, as happened in my country, even here the government not only criminalizes gamblers/online casino operations, but also spends a lot of money just to create firewalls that prevent people from accessing online gambling sites (which are very easy to overcome with VPN). But instead of being effective, the number of online gamblers here is the same and they are not afraid of the punishment.

Good point,  if those people behind this business don't have any access with corrupt leaders,  they won't be able to facilitate any illegal business,  that's the first thing the government should do, passing laws regarding to this is a good step but even  there's implementation of that rules but if the leaders or any government officials which is involves to this activities then it will be easy for those facilitators to continue their business,  just need a monthly allowance for those corrupt people and they will just enjoy all the privileges.

The government should still considering banning specially all about illegal casinos as the Philippines is not very deep as far as gambling is concern. You will always hear horror stories from anyone in the country now and it really saddened to hear my countrymen really getting themselves in gambling.

So hopefully POGO and everything related to gambling should be controlled and minimized by the current sitting President and those officials shouldn't make money out of this gambling operations and not be the protector. Otherwise, I don't know what the state of the country will be in the next 2 years.

If there's lots of people got affected on the operation they have done and they used anything that can fool people to make them believe that there's easy way to earn money thru this activities then much really better if government will implement that decision to save the lives of their people.

But in the case of POGO if the officials of those businesses will just do pure business and don't mix with other illegal activities well maybe its fine to regulate them, But seems they are engaging with risky matters which involve national security or threat to humanity I guess that banning should be done. Yeah those taxes it can provide would bring good help to the country, but if the exchange of everything is the welfare of people then I guess its better to eliminate this since human life is important.

[mirakal]

But in the case of POGO if the officials of those businesses will just do pure business and don't mix with other illegal activities well maybe its fine to regulate them, But seems they are engaging with risky matters which involve national security or threat to humanity I guess that banning should be done. Yeah those taxes it can provide would bring good help to the country, but if the exchange of everything is the welfare of people then I guess its better to eliminate this since human life is important.

I think the issue here isn’t really about legality; it’s about the corrupt government officials who have let POGOs operate without proper documentation because they’re being paid off. As a Filipino citizen, I’m in favor of banning POGOs since the benefits don’t really go to the people but to corrupt politicians instead, who don’t even pay taxes. It’s better for the majority, too, as it helps reduce the illegal activities associated with POGOs.

I just hope the President doesn’t turn a blind eye to what’s happening, because that would show people he’s a responsible leader who can protect the country from these kinds of problems.

[Kemarit]

But in the case of POGO if the officials of those businesses will just do pure business and don't mix with other illegal activities well maybe its fine to regulate them, But seems they are engaging with risky matters which involve national security or threat to humanity I guess that banning should be done. Yeah those taxes it can provide would bring good help to the country, but if the exchange of everything is the welfare of people then I guess its better to eliminate this since human life is important.

I think the issue here isn’t really about legality; it’s about the corrupt government officials who have let POGOs operate without proper documentation because they’re being paid off. As a Filipino citizen, I’m in favor of banning POGOs since the benefits don’t really go to the people but to corrupt politicians instead, who don’t even pay taxes. It’s better for the majority, too, as it helps reduce the illegal activities associated with POGOs.

I just hope the President doesn’t turn a blind eye to what’s happening, because that would show people he’s a responsible leader who can protect the country from these kinds of problems.

If they are not paying taxes, then obviously they should be shutdown, but first they will have to come after them and chase for those unpaid taxes. And then after that, they can close and then go after that supposedly corrupt officials that help them established this POGO inside the country.

It should be complete and swift as well, together with the police and military and then capture everyone that is related to this crime. I heard that there are still being investigated in the Senate, but it seems that it has taken them so long already.

[YOSHIE]

What about you do you think banning offshore gambling operators and online gambling will solve the spread of illegal gambling activities in a country?

Yes, maybe I have to agree with your suggestion, that is POGO gambling and online gambling or visitors cannot be made scapegoats, corrupt individuals are responsible for all of that, visitors cannot be made sacrifices for their greed.

I'm sure the bill proposed in the Philippines by senators is not going smoothly, I'm sure there are pros and cons in this, taking into account visitors, tourists and other support for POGOs and online gambling and other considerations, Considering that rather than losing everything, it would be better to just lose one person.

[stadus]

I'm sure the bill proposed in the Philippines by senators is not going smoothly, I'm sure there are pros and cons in this, taking into account visitors, tourists and other support for POGOs and online gambling and other considerations, Considering that rather than losing everything, it would be better to just lose one person.

That bill aims to ban unregulated online gambling, and while PAGCOR can issue a limited number of licenses, the reality is that there are numerous online gambling sites in the Philippines. The ban on POGOs is a significant step, mainly because they’ve become a hub for scammers. However, online casinos will likely continue to operate, similar to how Binance exchange was banned in the Philippines, yet people still access it. In short, even with such laws, if there’s no strict enforcement, nothing will really change.

[Oluwa-btc]

The proposed bill is due to the recent illegal POGO raids where human trafficking, murder, and money laundering were uncovered. Due to this, one of the Philippine senators believes that the best move is to ban POGOs and online gambling all in all and punish any person who is involved in online gambling activity if the bill is approved.

Since the issues of human trafficking, murder and all that has been a major concern to the government of Philippines I don't think gambling should be  added to it, rather they should source for ways to remedy the issues that had been a challenge to the country than adding other aspects to make it cumbersome but then since the others are illegal  gambling too isn't exempted and that's what led them to declare a ban to POGOs and all online gambling sites but it's a a Good thing they did looking at the rate of gambling and upcoming generation going into it it's a medium to put a stop to it entirely and save the country from disaster. And banning gambling operators both online and offline one good remedy to limits such illegal Acts.

[blockman]

In short, even with such laws, if there’s no strict enforcement, nothing will really change.

This is true, despite that bills have been made into laws. There is no enforcement on it, the banned services, platforms and casinos can easily still be accessed by everyone. It's sad that this is the type of government that we have and it's unlikely to change every administration.
We'll all relying on it for as much as we can be and we're just tolerating it at all because we're powerless.

[$weetne$$]

Banning online gambling is not a solution to the problem, but officials who deliberately allow illegal online casino platforms to operate - that's what the government must overcome, because from them illegal online casinos can operate freely without fear of government regulations. Because no matter how hard the government bans illegal online casinos, they will continue to grow and operate, as happened in my country, even here the government not only criminalizes gamblers/online casino operations, but also spends a lot of money just to create firewalls that prevent people from accessing online gambling sites (which are very easy to overcome with VPN). But instead of being effective, the number of online gamblers here is the same and they are not afraid of the punishment.

Illegal casino are becoming more popular than the usual casino that we know about and alot or customers are beginning to patronised them. I think what is causing this is because illegal casino are becoming less strict than the normal casino that we know about, without the gamblers knowing, they'll be making use of illegal casino without knowing. Banning online casino is not going to be helpful because there's no way we can  stop online gambling from becoming a thing. Without you knowing, your children are already gambling on-line and it now a thing that every household are suffering from. What is more important right now is how you stop this from becoming a global problem then to act as if we don't have this problem. Banning of online casino is not going to stop the abuse of of gambling, we need to embrace it and improve it instead of fighting it.

[Jemzx00]

I'm sure the bill proposed in the Philippines by senators is not going smoothly, I'm sure there are pros and cons in this, taking into account visitors, tourists and other support for POGOs and online gambling and other considerations, Considering that rather than losing everything, it would be better to just lose one person.

That bill aims to ban unregulated online gambling, and while PAGCOR can issue a limited number of licenses, the reality is that there are numerous online gambling sites in the Philippines. The ban on POGOs is a significant step, mainly because they’ve become a hub for scammers. However, online casinos will likely continue to operate, similar to how Binance exchange was banned in the Philippines, yet people still access it. In short, even with such laws, if there’s no strict enforcement, nothing will really change.

Honestly, the ban of POGOs isn't that much of a significant action especially, like you've said, it isn't being strictly enforced. I've been in the BPO industry and I know a lot of people who works on POGO but still as of now most of them are still employed and not much has been changed. People rarely talks about them working on POGO as it provides a higher salary compared to other companies.
There's little to no action being implemented unless the government will be able to profit on raiding these POGO hubs but without any profit or gain, they mostly turn a blind eye on most of them especially those Hubs backed by known people.

[michellee]

In short, even with such laws, if there’s no strict enforcement, nothing will really change.

This is true, despite that bills have been made into laws. There is no enforcement on it, the banned services, platforms and casinos can easily still be accessed by everyone. It's sad that this is the type of government that we have and it's unlikely to change every administration.
We'll all relying on it for as much as we can be and we're just tolerating it at all because we're powerless.

The bill will be bill while that needs to obey the bill and not doing something wrong. But the government needs to watch out the illegal online gambling or even underground casino because with the prohibition from the government, people will be careful to visits the casino. They will not says many things about gambling to many people because the government watch them and will arrest them if they breaks the rules.

That will not be easy to eradicates gambling if that is already rooted from a long time ago. Maybe the government needs to use another approach for their people so they can realize about the danger of gambling. After all, it is not easy to give understanding to people who often playing gambling.

[Questat]

I'm sure the bill proposed in the Philippines by senators is not going smoothly, I'm sure there are pros and cons in this, taking into account visitors, tourists and other support for POGOs and online gambling and other considerations, Considering that rather than losing everything, it would be better to just lose one person.

That bill aims to ban unregulated online gambling, and while PAGCOR can issue a limited number of licenses, the reality is that there are numerous online gambling sites in the Philippines. The ban on POGOs is a significant step, mainly because they’ve become a hub for scammers. However, online casinos will likely continue to operate, similar to how Binance exchange was banned in the Philippines, yet people still access it. In short, even with such laws, if there’s no strict enforcement, nothing will really change.

Honestly, the ban of POGOs isn't that much of a significant action especially, like you've said, it isn't being strictly enforced. I've been in the BPO industry and I know a lot of people who works on POGO but still as of now most of them are still employed and not much has been changed.

According to the article I read, it looks like POGO will only be around until the end of the year.

One month has passed since Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. announced a sweeping ban on Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs). Although the ban took immediate effect, with a deadline of December 31st, 2024, for shutting down all operations, the announcement has stirred considerable debate and concern. The specifics of how the ban will be implemented remain ambiguous.

Maybe they’re still operating to maximize their potential income for the year, but they're well-monitored now, that’s why we’re not getting as many text scams lately.

[Dave1]

I'm sure the bill proposed in the Philippines by senators is not going smoothly, I'm sure there are pros and cons in this, taking into account visitors, tourists and other support for POGOs and online gambling and other considerations, Considering that rather than losing everything, it would be better to just lose one person.

That bill aims to ban unregulated online gambling, and while PAGCOR can issue a limited number of licenses, the reality is that there are numerous online gambling sites in the Philippines. The ban on POGOs is a significant step, mainly because they’ve become a hub for scammers. However, online casinos will likely continue to operate, similar to how Binance exchange was banned in the Philippines, yet people still access it. In short, even with such laws, if there’s no strict enforcement, nothing will really change.

But if you look at it, there are a lot of crypto based online casinos that are restricting the country of the Philippines already. And perhaps this was due to this call from the President of the Philippines to have his countries on the ban list. Although we all know that they can use VPN to access if they want to, but we all know that is not a good idea.

Yes, it's a significant step, but then again, it's really hard to really ban gambling unless the government really change itself to be very authoritative and controlling and no longer democratic. I'm still at lost though how unregulated online gambling has proliferated the Philippines unless there are some entities that are protecting it, but it's just pure speculation on my end.

[madnessteat]

In my opinion, the adoption of a law banning online gambling will not solve anything when you do not have the technical means to do it and corruption thrives. The means of bypassing blocking will allow those who need it to continue to play gambling. In my opinion the problem in the Philippines is that the government is not able to fight organized crime. Fraudsters are an integral part of society and even if you completely eliminate the industry in which they operate, they will move to another industry. So passing a law that will not work is a fool's errand.

[Fredomago]

I'm sure the bill proposed in the Philippines by senators is not going smoothly, I'm sure there are pros and cons in this, taking into account visitors, tourists and other support for POGOs and online gambling and other considerations, Considering that rather than losing everything, it would be better to just lose one person.

That bill aims to ban unregulated online gambling, and while PAGCOR can issue a limited number of licenses, the reality is that there are numerous online gambling sites in the Philippines. The ban on POGOs is a significant step, mainly because they’ve become a hub for scammers. However, online casinos will likely continue to operate, similar to how Binance exchange was banned in the Philippines, yet people still access it. In short, even with such laws, if there’s no strict enforcement, nothing will really change.

Honestly, the ban of POGOs isn't that much of a significant action especially, like you've said, it isn't being strictly enforced. I've been in the BPO industry and I know a lot of people who works on POGO but still as of now most of them are still employed and not much has been changed.

According to the article I read, it looks like POGO will only be around until the end of the year.

Let see after this year if they will stop or what will be the next options if they still have, though there's no update and the business still quitely facilatating, those who got their permits still exist.

One month has passed since Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. announced a sweeping ban on Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs). Although the ban took immediate effect, with a deadline of December 31st, 2024, for shutting down all operations, the announcement has stirred considerable debate and concern. The specifics of how the ban will be implemented remain ambiguous.

Maybe they’re still operating to maximize their potential income for the year, but they're well-monitored now, that’s why we’re not getting as many text scams lately.

Yeah, I also notice that, after the ban those text which mostly about online gambling are no longer existing..