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.

<...>

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.

[Oshosondy]

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.

What the government care most about is not how gambers are losing money, they just care about the money they are making from gambling. But if you are gambling on a gambling site that is having gambling license in your country, to sue the gambling site will be easier than to sue a gambling site that is not having license in your country.

[Chibit01]

There is not country that can fully ban their citizens from accessing offshore casinos, and we can't also say the government are just fooling themselves. They are taking action based on what they think is best and setting all limits, but there are no tactics that can be 100% productive. The main concern is players protection but since you don't care about it, you just have to play and be cautious that you don't win an amount that will require the casino to ask you for verification, unless some that won't actually care.

[BALIK]

Being licensed locally does not mean that any platform is free from risk. In our country there have been previous instance of fraud involving platform like BingoPlus and ArenaPlus as coinrifft mentioned.

If large winning payout is withheld on grounds of system error, it inevitably cast doubt on credibility of operator’s commitment to consumer protection. After all, guaranteeing customer’s right on paper is not the same as upholding them in reality.

Incident where funds deposited by player go missing and are misappropriated frequently come to light, yet local regulatory bodies fail to prevent them. They seem capable only of imposing IP ban on offshore platform.

[Shinpako09]

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 funny thing is, they are tightening rules not because they are concerned about their citizens, as usual, but because they just want to monopolize the market. If you visit an offshore site and haven't changed your DNS yet, once it's blocked, you'll see suggestions on where you should play. It's not about safety, it's about monopoly.

If we are just talking about safety, overseas casinos are safer than our local casinos. At least overseas casinos have a lower chance of cheating, especially established casinos. Just like what you've said, it has happened a few times that jackpots weren't given, and they just used a system glitch as an excuse. Once they say it, you can't do anything about it, or you just put your life at risk if you insist.

[Swordsoffreedom]

My point is, if any player cannot withdraw their winning even in strictly regulated country like Philippine, then where else can those player go if not to an offshore crypto casino? idk

offshore casino may lack formal legal protection in their jurisdiction.
However blockchain based smart contract and provably fair algorithm eliminate the possibility of faking glitch. Furthermore many reputable casino which are highly authentic are already advertising on our forum like Stake, Roobet, Duelbits etc..

Until their government realize that providing transparent and fair environment is better than resorting to ban and control. imo, In the meantime their people will turn to offshore site.

[rbynxx]

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.

Maybe they don't have the power to fully stop it, or probably they're just pretending to be serious about these bans. What I mean is, it's easy to make these strict rules on your own country, but enforcing them is totally a different story, especially these offshore casinos operate outside their reach. And sometimes you'll wonder if they really want to stop it fully or if they're just putting a show to make it look like they're doing something about this problem.

I'm sick of the game this current administration is doing tbh. Moreover, these offshore casinos are more trustworthy than these local online casinos and that's a fact, I mean these casinos that has strong branding.

[cryptomaniac_xxx]

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.

Maybe they don't have the power to fully stop it, or probably they're just pretending to be serious about these bans. What I mean is, it's easy to make these strict rules on your own country, but enforcing them is totally a different story, especially these offshore casinos operate outside their reach. And sometimes you'll wonder if they really want to stop it fully or if they're just putting a show to make it look like they're doing something about this problem.

I'm sick of the game this current administration is doing tbh. Moreover, these offshore casinos are more trustworthy than these local online casinos and that's a fact, I mean these casinos that has strong branding.

Probably that's one case why there are still Filipinos patronize off-shore is with that issues with local casinos not paying the winners. So that alone is really scary for some average casino players that when someone win big, maybe they won't get the winnings.

So the government should strike a balance between local and off shore casinos. If they deemed that local casino is not paying then they should step in. And if some off shore also has issues then they should stop accessed to it.

[swogerino]

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.

In my country they tried to do that nation wide and it was disastrous the result. Even young kids now 13-14 year old teenagers can use a VPN or even worse just change their DNS to Google ones and this ban was bypassed. This never works and I don't know what the government wants to achieve with this implementation as it makes no sense. They better do it like US who tax your gambling winnings and that would be a winning move for any government to get even more taxes by their citizens through gambling.

[Charles-Tim]

Maybe they don't have the power to fully stop it, or probably they're just pretending to be serious about these bans. What I mean is, it's easy to make these strict rules on your own country, but enforcing them is totally a different story, especially these offshore casinos operate outside their reach. And sometimes you'll wonder if they really want to stop it fully or if they're just putting a show to make it look like they're doing something about this problem.

With what happened in my country when government were hostile against crypto exchanges, Binance, OKX and Kucoin were forced to close P2P, but Bybit, Bitget and some other exchanges did not close P2P. I was thinking the government officials were bribed, but I may be wrong. What I am not sure of is if some government officials are bribed, although Binance said that they wanted bribe. There are also many gambling sites that might be operating just like this. The government have the power to make their operations harder to sustain, but maybe they are receiving bribes.

[Mr. Magkaisa]

President Bong Bong Marcos said on his SONA before that POGO will be banned and hunt down, since that day POGO and online casino went wild and wider. There are too many new platforms in this country.
PAGCOR said taht but if we can see that government now is puretalk and no real talk, no good actions. So I will expect more casino to rise and POGO will get more aggressive as bribe is a big problem in this country.
They will tighten the rules, the rules to brive, they want to make bigger income from that.

[Renampun]

The government basically can't completely ban offshore casinos.. What they can mostly do is restrict people from accessing them by blocking access, but people can still get around it by activating DNS or using a VPN.. Yes, it really comes down to people's choice because even if there's a legal casino operating, if it often has issues, don't be surprised if more players choose to play at offshore casinos that offer more attractive bonuses and fairer games.

[arwin100]

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 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.

I don't see any protection the way how they handle things, also its clear that government just want profit on why they made such regulation.

They always says that they want to protect the consumers, but what's happening is different.

Protection could only happen if they decide to ban all casinos, whether its legal or illegal.

Since as long as there are casinos, still operating the effect of that activities will be the same.

[Alex077]

... If you visit an offshore site and haven't changed your DNS yet, once it's blocked, you'll see suggestions on where you should play. It's not about safety, it's about monopoly.

If we are just talking about safety, overseas casinos are safer than our local casinos. At least overseas casinos have a lower chance of cheating, especially established casinos. Just like what you've said, it has happened a few times that jackpots weren't given, and they just used a system glitch as an excuse. Once they say it, you can't do anything about it, or you just put your life at risk if you insist.

I think in this case  we need to separate two things here - the government's desire to control the gambling market and actually protecting gamblers. Of course, regulations can be used to limit competition and protect local operators, especially when the government collects significant tax revenue from gambling.  Taxation, fighting money laundering, and protecting players also matter.

A large international casino can certainly be much more reliable than a small local operator, but having an offshore license doesn't guarantee anything by itself. In fact, getting your money back from a foreign casino can sometimes be much harder. And these requirements should apply equally to both local and foreign operators doing business in that market.

[freedomgo]

I don't see any protection the way how they handle things, also its clear that government just want profit on why they made such regulation.

They always says that they want to protect the consumers, but what's happening is different.

That's the main reason why many gamblers choose offshore casinos as the requirements are not strict and some don't even require KYC...

It's just a matter of reputation, as long as they have an announcement thread in the forum, I would already trust them over my local casino. and there's a risk yes but there are also some benefits because if I win I would not have to declare it so they would not know, I might avoid paying taxes.

[Ziskinberg]

The government basically can't completely ban offshore casinos.. What they can mostly do is restrict people from accessing them by blocking access, but people can still get around it by activating DNS or using a VPN.. Yes, it really comes down to people's choice because even if there's a legal casino operating, if it often has issues, don't be surprised if more players choose to play at offshore casinos that offer more attractive bonuses and fairer games.

In short they can't stop people and whatever measures they take will not be effective,

unless you are living in a country where they would send gamblers to jail if they violate the law.

[1] Singapore - up to 6 months in jail
[2] Thailand - up to 3 years in jail.
[3] United Arab Emirates - up to 2 years in jail.

[Hatchy]

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 fact is that people will always find ways around these restrictions. This happens not only with casinos but also in countries where cryptocurrency is restricted. People still find ways to participate in the market despite those restrictions..These regulations cannot completely block access to the many offshore casino sites operating online. Players can still access them through virtual private networks. The question I always ask is whether these restrictions are meant to protect players from casinos or protect the government from the casinos. If the government truly wants to help gamblers, I don't think restrictions alone will solve the problem. They may make gambling more difficult, but they won't stop people from accessing and playing on those sites.

[suzanne5223]

I believe this is something that's common in a lot of countries now, not just the Philippines. I mean, the governments tighten local licensing, stop issuing new permits, and ban some operators, while they never fully provide the needed solution or protect the interests of the people (gamblers).
Making more money in their own pockets and also empowering themselves is always their intention, so player protection is always a secondary thing they have a plan for.
Their main driver is usually revenue licensing fees, taxes, and keeping the gambling platforms' activity in a system they can monitor.