PAGCOR tightens rules, but Offshore Casinos remain accessible

[Sanitough]

Posting this not just to discuss the gambling laws in our country, but also to see how other countries regulate online gambling and to hear the real experiences of users here.

So as you can read in this report, the government has already stopped issuing new online gambling licenses for several reasons, which could be a good move but in reality, people like me can still access offshore casinos without any difficulty since many offshore casinos, though regulated, do not require KYC for small transactions, so that's like a convenient playing ground for us.

So some guys think you don't have protection, who cares, even in the Philippines we are not always protected, they just claim it on paper but there are reports of gamblers winning millions only to be told by the operators that it was a system glitch.

So a country can be strict with its rules but still cannot stop people from accessing offshore casinos, are they just fooling themselves? I mean the problem is also outside their jurisdiction and they are not fully addressing it.

[Don Pedro Dinero]

Posting this not just to discuss the gambling laws in our country, but also to see how other countries regulate online gambling and to hear the real experiences of users here.

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So a country can be strict with its rules but still cannot stop people from accessing offshore casinos, are they just fooling themselves? I mean the problem is also outside their jurisdiction and they are not fully addressing it.

In Europe it is the same as in your country. What you don’t realise is that what governments are really after is revenue. Protecting consumers is just an excuse. Through national licences, they generate revenue, and they know that a certain percentage of gamblers slip through the net because they access offshore casinos, but the fact is that they used to collect nothing, and now they collect a fair amount. That’s what matters to them.

[coinrifft]

So a country can be strict with its rules but still cannot stop people from accessing offshore casinos, are they just fooling themselves? I mean the problem is also outside their jurisdiction and they are not fully addressing it.

The problem is that there could be some powerful individuals that are allowing offshore casinos in our country. Although we all know that the current President has signed this into law:

https://pco.gov.ph/news_releases/pbbm-signs-into-law-anti-pogo-act-of-2025-institutionalizing-ban-on-pogos/

President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. has recently signed Republic Act (RA) 12312, or the “Anti-POGO Act of 2025,” which institutionalizes the ban on Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs).

But as you can see, from Gcash to Paymaya to Coins.ph to casinos like CasinoPlus, ArenaPlus and other legal casinos with off shore gaming are still prevalent in our country. And even if there is a case recently that headlines about someone not getting paid with is millions of winnings, still those casinos are still allowed in our country.