Senate hearing in the Philippines receives praise from PlaySafe Alliance for establishing a fitting atmosphere
The PlaySafe Alliance, a trade group representing 18 licensed gambling operators and companies in the country, has spoken out about the potential impact of a proposed ban on online gambling in the Philippines.
In a recent statement, the alliance reiterated its original position: limiting licensed gambling operators from viable payment providers would inadvertently empower the unregulated gambling market. The alliance argues that this could lead to increased problems related to gambling harm, such as underage access, uncontrolled betting, and financial distress.
The PlaySafe Alliance believes that these problems are made possible by unregulated and offshore gambling activity. Offshore gambling operators, which currently dominate 50% of the gambling market in the Philippines, do not pay taxes into the country and are not beholden to the same standards established by PAGCOR that licensed operators are.
The alliance commended a recent Senate hearing for helping set the right tone in discussing the domestic online gambling framework. However, they did not provide any specific details about the harms caused by offshore and illegal gambling operators.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas has ordered e-wallets to cancel transactions to online gambling platforms to boost consumer protection and safety. The PlaySafe Alliance argues that delinking licensed operators from online payment platforms risks pushing players into the untraceable corners of the Internet where harm is harder to detect.
The alliance argues that the best way to address these outstanding issues is to strengthen the regulated market and limit the influence of unregulated and offshore operators. They did not comment on whether the majority of Filipinos want to see licensed and regulated products.
The PlaySafe Alliance did not comment on whether President Bongbong Marcos' potential decision to ban online gambling would be counter-productive. The organization that announced on Monday the importance of limiting the influence of unregulated and offshore gambling operators is not explicitly named in the provided search results.
The PlaySafe Alliance did not discuss the regulatory framework or its impact on what measures work and what doesn't. They did, however, state that the harms highlighted in the Senate hearing, such as underage access, uncontrolled betting, and financial distress, originate from offshore and illegal gambling operators, not from those licensed by PAGCOR.
The PlaySafe Alliance was established in a hurry due to speculation about President Bongbong Marcos potentially banning online gambling. Despite this, they have been vocal in their efforts to maintain a strong and regulated gambling market in the Philippines.
