Recto pushes tax, reforms to regulate online gambling

Department of Finance Secretary Ralph Recto suggests increasing tax for online gambling operators instead of a total ban on this activity.

"We’re studying what that increase should be. That’s one [measure], but we need more regulation," he said during a recent meeting with the media in Pasay City.

These statements came after Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri filed Senate Bill 142 or the Anti-Online Gambling Act of 2025 to stop all forms of online gambling in the country as a way to prevent the public from facing unnecessary financial losses and moral degeneration.

However, Recto said an adjusted but sound tax rate should encourage illegal online gambling operators to register their businesses and regularly pay their taxes, resulting in additional government revenues to be used for various public projects.

He said legal online gambling and casino operators are already paying taxes at around 38 percent of their gross gaming revenues (GGR) through the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation and the Bureau of Internal Revenue.

However, Recto estimates that only 40 percent of the industry players are paying taxes and registered with the government.

He projects their total GGR to slightly exceed P200 billion this year. Thus, for instance, he said a 10 percent tax hike on P200-billion GGR would generate an additional P20 billion in government revenues each year.

"How do you regulate brick-and-mortar casinos? How they're being regulated should also apply to online gambling," he said.

"You open your cellphones, go to Facebook, and you'll see a lot of online gambling operators that are illegal. Go to their endorsers' Facebook and bet on their Facebook pages. They're all illegal," Recto continued.

Aside from tax adjustment, Recto said requiring operators to be listed in the Philippine Stock Exchange could help the government monitor which ones are following the law.

"We can force them to list so we will know who the people behind the online gaming operations are. It becomes more transparent. That's a possibility," he said.

Recto proposes that only individuals aged 21 and above should be allowed to access all forms of online gambling. He said checking the players' national ID could be the best way to verify if they meet the age requirement.

He said the government's economic team and related agencies are accelerating efforts on establishing better regulations on online gambling which President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. might mention soon in his fourth State of the Nation Address on 28 July.