A senator’s proposal for tighter regulation and a Catholic Bishop’s expression of concern over the negative effect of online gambling has put the industry under renewed scrutiny.
A bill filed by Senator Sherwin Gatchalian which seeks to tighten online gaming regulations and prohibit the use of e-wallets spooked investors on Wednesday, causing a rare sell off in shares of stock market darling DigiPlus Interactive Corp.
Furthermore, Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David on June 30 called out the government for failing to protect Filipinos, particularly the youth, from becoming “gambling addicts.”
Gatchalian filed the yet unnumbered bill seeking to impose stricter regulations in a bid to curb the increasing gambling addiction, particularly among the youth. The measure seeks to require stricture know-your-customer rules, regulate advertising, impose a minimum top-up threshold of P10,000, and prevent e-wallets like GCash and Maya from acting as payment platforms for online betting. The threshold is to discourage the poor from spending hard earned money on gaming.
The senator, however, said he would not push for the total ban of online gambling to prevent providers from going underground.
Cardinal David said the accessibility of online gambling has brought the vice into homes and smartphones. “Who needs to sneak into a high-end casino when the casino has been brought into every living room, every bedroom, every child’s pocket – right there on the glowing screen of a smartphone?” David, bishop of Kalookan and president of the Catholic Bishop’s Conference of the Philippines, said in a Facebook post.
According to David, while the government has banned Philippine offshore gaming operators and online sabong, it made online gaming more accessible to Filipinos of all ages, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. He also took issue with celebrity endorsers being “legal pushers” of online gambling.
When it comes to potentially destructive vices like gambling, it is the duty of government to protect its people, either by entirely banning the activity, or tighter regulation, to prevent vulnerable sectors of society, such as the youth and those mired in poverty, from falling into addiction and potential financial ruin.
Unrestricted online gambling, which is accessible to everyone, has been allowed to sink its teeth in our society for far too long. It may be better late than never, but it is time to loosen that grip by tightening regulations that will protect those who are vulnerable to addiction and all the negative effects that come with it.*
