The lawmakers in the Philippines aren’t joking around: they’re pushing for a ban on online gambling, and it seems like nothing on earth could make them change their minds. They’re on board for it to the extent that even President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. weighed in.
The Philippines’ president said that he’s not against new 10% taxes and he won’t even stand in the way of a total iGaming ban if the decision’s backed up by research.
It all started when some POGOs (Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators) turned out to be tied to illegal activities, money laundering, scams, and even human trafficking. One thing led to another, and in 2024, we’ve got to the point where the Philippines lawmakers pushed for a full ban on all offshore gambling operators.
Now, in 2025, things don’t seem that much different. The sector the Philippines officials are calling out this time, though, is the entire iGaming industry.
Sen. Joseph Victor Ejercito pointed a finger at local online gambling platforms, claiming they stop at nothing, not even targeting Filipino minors. Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri went a step further by filing the Anti-Online Gambling Act of 2025 — an act that would eliminate online gambling from the face of their country once and for all.
Some other officials, though, push back a little, stating that they’re risking more than 40,000 Filipino jobs by shutting down the whole industry.
With this amount of push and pull, we guess nobody can say for sure where things are headed. At least for now.
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