Anyone with an email address would know how aggressively online gambling sites advertise. These are pop-ups that one would be hard put to block. But block them, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has tried to do by recently ordering the removal of the in-app links of online gambling platforms from electronic wallets (e-wallets).

Deputy Governor Mamerto Tangonan told the Senate, during the deliberations on bills related to online gambling regulation on Thursday, that the BSP gave e-wallets and gamers or gamblers 48 hours to disengage from online games.

Whether or not the order is precisely followed, it is quite obvious that the lawmakers are directing attention to the negative effects of online gambling. As President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. recently admonished Congress, among others, “Mahiya naman kayo!”

Have some shame, indeed, as Philippine society is wallowing in despair and frustration over the perennial issues -– flooding, a water shortage, a housing shortage, poor education, hunger and so on — that are taking many decades and generations of political families to address.

Who is poor? The government can pat itself on the back for every little gain, but the numbers do not count for much when the population is saying they “feel” poor.

And this is one reason so many are getting sucked into games of chance like online gambling. Why is there so much interest in lottery games, whether legal or illegal? People who are in dire need will do anything to get money, and when it becomes addictive, like e-games that also kill boredom and malaise, the problems arise.

Reports say addiction to online gambling and sports betting sites is a growing mental health concern. An article by the Philippine News Agency in October 2024 told the story of a patient whose gambling debts escalated so much he considered suicide.

Families, no doubt, are adversely affected by the problem.

Senator Miguel Zubiri, in an article in this paper, went so far as to say it is “destroying Filipino families.”

Flabbergasted by the “5,564-percent increase in online gambling revenues over the past four years,” Zubiri linked the rise to the “shattered lives, drained savings, and family tragedies fueled by digital platforms that are dangerously accessible to the public.”

Crimes resulting from gambling debts have also been reported.

Online games can hook anyone with a cellphone, and there are not enough protections against the ill effects of gambling and the addiction to it. Is online gambling more a symptom of a political crisis than of a public health crisis? That’s the question demanding an answer.

It is not enough for lawmakers to ensure that the industry is properly regulated. They should impose strict enforcement, follow through on their big words and promises, and provide the people with decent lives and better ways of making a living, so there would be no more need to gamble away their future with fantasies of hitting the jackpot.