The Central Bank's order to remove e-wallets' links to online gambling resulted in a 50% drop in legal online gambling from August 17 to 19, according to PAGCOR. Among the e-wallet apps that followed were the ones most widely used by Filipinos.
But according to the survey, while legal gambling has decreased, the use of illegal sites has increased by 40%. This means that online gambling has not completely decreased, but players have simply moved to more dangerous platforms.
PAGCOR admitted that 60% of operators are illegal and they are difficult to control. Even though more than 8,000 sites have been shut down, they still quickly return with new names or accounts. Even minors can play on them.
Despite the issue, the agency still earned a lot of money from January to June 2025 — ₱114.83 billion from online gaming revenue, part of which goes to universal healthcare and other social services of the government. However, some lawmakers believe that the social costs of gambling still outweigh its profits.
