PAGCOR logs 40-50% income drop from online gambling

The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) logged a 40 to 50 percent income loss from online gambling after delinking payment links from major e-wallet providers.

During the Senate Committee on Games and Amusement hearing on Tuesday, 16 Sept., PAGCOR Assistant Vice President Jessa Mariz Fernandez said the drop was recorded in the first two weeks after e-wallet platforms such as GCash and PayMaya cut their links to online gambling websites.

"We confirm that there was an effect. This is based on the income for two weeks after the delinking. We experienced around 40 to 50 percent decline in income," Fernandez said in Filipino.

"The information came from our accounting data and the Electronic Gaming Licensing Department," she added.

Asked by Senator Erwin Tulfo about its policy preference, Fernandez stressed its support for the strict regulation of online gambling rather than a total ban.

"PAGCOR's position is for strict regulation of the industry," Fernandez said.

The PAGCOR official also announced the upcoming launch of an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered tool designed to detect illegal gambling websites in real time.

"We are now launching an AI tool that can detect illegal gambling websites every second, and we are also coordinating with the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC), National Telecommunications Center (NTC), and the Department of Information and Communications Technology of the Philippines (DICT) so that these websites can be blocked quickly," she added.

Fernandez explained that before, PAGCOR manually monitored the illegal websites through reports from licensees, concerned players, or concerned citizens.

"Now, with the help of AI-powered tools, we can monitor illegal gambling websites with the help of CICC, NTC, and DICT. We will have an agreement so that they can block these websites more quickly," she added.

In August, e-wallets removed access to online gambling following the directive of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas amid the surge in in-app gambling transactions in the country.

Senator Miguel "Migz" Zubiri earlier revealed a staggering 5,564 percent rise in online gambling revenues over the past four years, tracing the explosive growth from P8 billion in 2022 to P135.71 billion in 2024, with P106.53 billion recorded in the first half of 2025 alone.