As on-line playing features traction in the Philippines, lawmakers and regulators are taking coordinated steps to restrict the function that digital monetary platforms play in enabling entry to betting web sites and apps. A collection of proposed legal guidelines and central financial institution insurance policies intention to limit how e-wallet providers promote, facilitate, or join customers to playing operations, citing rising social and monetary harms.
Proposed Legislation Seeks to Penalize E-Wallet Involvement
On July 1, 5 members of the House of Representatives launched House Bill 721, often known as the Anti-Online Gambling Promotion in E-Wallets Act. The invoice targets e-wallet platforms that, by means of their apps, provide entry to or promote playing actions. The authors — Reps. Jonathan Keith Flores, Jose Manuel Alba, Audrey Zubiri, Laarni Roque (all from Bukidnon), and Arlyn Ayon (Swerte Party-list) — underscored the urgency of limiting how monetary know-how intersects with the playing business.
Though lawmakers acknowledged the important function e-wallets play in offering monetary entry to the general public, they warned that these providers have additionally develop into channels for normalizing playing. “However, alongside financial inclusion and the ease of transactions, a troubling social and cultural trend has emerged: e-wallets have become gateways to gambling by providing direct access to digital casinos and sports betting platforms,” the explanatory notice learn.
Among the actions prohibited beneath the invoice are internet hosting playing ads, directing customers to betting websites by way of hyperlinks or QR codes, sharing details about inserting or receiving wagers, and selling playing to the general public by means of the app interface.
If the laws passes, e-wallet operators would even be required to implement safeguards, together with eradicating gambling-related supplies, creating inside controls to restrict publicity to such content material, and submitting annual experiences to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). The BSP, in cooperation with the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), would oversee enforcement.
A tiered penalty system is proposed: first-time violations would carry fines between PHP100,000 and PHP500,000, plus a proper warning. A second violation may result in a PHP1 million effective and a suspension of as much as 30 days. Repeated violations might outcome in a everlasting revocation of the platform’s license and a effective starting from PHP1 million to PHP5 million. “Online gambling is a moral, financial and public health concern. Without proper safeguards, e-wallets risk becoming traps for vulnerable Filipinos and safe havens for gambling addiction,” the explanatory notice added.
BSP Considers Broader Measures on Gambling Access
Alongside legislative efforts, the BSP is making ready its personal regulatory response. The central financial institution has launched a draft round for suggestions from stakeholders that might require banks and e-money issuers beneath its supervision to ascertain stricter protocols relating to gambling-related exercise.
“The BSP is taking a collaborative approach to crafting the circular, to ensure that the final policy strikes a balance between protecting consumers and preserving access to digital payments for licensed businesses,” the BSP said.
One of the important thing concepts being thought of is inserting restrictions on which customers can entry on-line playing platforms by means of digital payment services. These protections may embody measures corresponding to age verification, transaction monitoring, and limitations on cash-ins to playing websites.
This builds on earlier regulatory actions. In 2021, the BSP barred licensed entities from transacting with unauthorized playing operations. The following yr, it ordered the elimination of all hyperlinks to digital sabong (cockfighting) after the federal government suspended the exercise nationwide.
Senate and House Align on Stricter Online Gambling Controls
In the Senate, Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian has filed a parallel measure reinforcing the drive to remove entry to playing by means of e-wallets. His model advocates for harder know-your-customer (KYC) procedures, minimal cash-in thresholds of PHP10,000, and restrictions on the position of playing ads — significantly close to colleges and residential zones.
Additional proposals are being explored by representatives from Akbayan and Bicol Saro party-lists. These embody broader restrictions past e-wallets, corresponding to full age verification techniques, greater deposit minimums, and the whole exclusion of playing options from cell apps. Legislators emphasised that informal playing, significantly amongst youth and lower-income teams, has led to rising debt and monetary stress.
The coordinated push displays mounting concern over how digital platforms — significantly fee providers like GCash and Maya — have made playing extra accessible and enticing to a wider inhabitants. Lawmakers are calling for stronger boundaries and new accountability mechanisms to deal with what they describe because the normalization of playing by means of know-how.
Source:
House bill proposes P5M fine, license loss for e-wallets promoting online gambling, philstar.com, July 3, 2025
