Do Legal Online Gambling Take a Big Hit from the BSP Order to Delink from E-Wallet Sites or In-App Icons?
The Philippines' Central Bank has ordered e-wallets to delink online gambling from their platforms or websites before August 17, 2025. This is in line with the goal of securing a healthy financial ecosystem for the Filipino people. However, this order has caused significant damage to the gambling industry. During a House briefing on August 20, 2025, PAGCOR Chair and CEO Alejandro Tengco stated that they observed a sudden 50% decline in online gaming transactions following the temporary delinking of online casinos from mobile e-wallets.
This decline was observed within just three days—from August 17 to 19, 2025—after mobile e-wallet platforms, especially Maya and GCash, complied with the BSP order to remove links to online casinos from their platforms.
Deep Thinking on the Delinking of Online Gambling from GCash and Maya
Payment platforms like e-wallets function similarly to banks, allowing users to save, invest, trade, and make payments. Their core system is designed to provide financial services that make each user's financial journey healthier and more convenient with just one touch.
When the two biggest e-wallets in the Philippines began allowing space for gaming, more Filipinos became addicted to online gambling. Even low-income earners were able to spend on gambling due to the easy access provided by e-wallet platforms.
Many Filipinos placed their trust in online gambling sites connected to e-wallets because of the platforms' strong reputations. Several Filipino players were reportedly engaging in harmful behaviors just to fund their addiction. The rise in gambling addiction was fueled by the integration of online gaming into these digital payment platforms.
The significant drop in online gambling transactions is a strong indicator that the demand among Filipinos is not driven by the mere availability of gambling—legal or illegal—but by the ease of access through e-wallets. This may be the rationale behind BSP’s move to permanently disallow gambling sites from financial platforms like e-wallets.
What Should the Government Do to Utilize Earnings from Online Gambling?
PAGCOR is actively cracking down on illegal online gaming platforms that use real money. They reported that over 8,000 of the 11,800 illegal online gambling platforms referred to the CICC have already been taken down.
However, due to the delinking of casinos from e-wallets, more gambling addicts are turning to search engines to find casinos through links or by searching their names—making users more vulnerable to illegal websites.
A possible comprehensive action the government could take to utilize these earnings and keep users on legal websites is to create a centralized platform where all legal online casinos are listed, rather than insisting on integration with e-wallets.
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