PAGCOR to launch app to regulate illegal platforms, protect players

The Philippines will roll out a mobile application before the end of the year aimed at steering online gamblers away from unlicensed platforms.

Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) chairman Alejandro Tengco said unlicensed operators account for close to half the market, illustrating how difficult it has become for regulators to keep players within legally sanctioned platforms as online gambling grows more accessible.

Player protection priorities

Tengco said the application would serve a dual purpose.

“The PAGCOR app has two main objectives. First, to curb illegal online gambling and second, to protect players by ensuring that they play only on platforms licensed and regulated by PAGCOR,” he said in an interview with the Philippine News Agency. 

“If the platform you are playing on is licensed, there is a process of resolution if you encounter problems.”

The regulator is framing the app as a way for patrons to play safely, without tolerating unregulated gaming.

“For those who patronise online gaming, we encourage them to use the PAGCOR App,” Tengco said. 

“The easier it is for them to identify where they can legally play, the better we can protect them from illegal operators and the risks that come with unregulated gaming.”

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Multi-agency approach versus illegal gambling

PAGCOR noted that the app is part of a wider effort, not just a standalone fix.

The agency is coordinating with the Department of Information and Communications Technology, the National Telecommunications Commission and the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordination Center to prosecute unlicensed operators, an approach that also targets the payment channels illegal platforms rely on to process transactions.

Cutting off those financial pathways, rather than simply publicising which sites are legitimate, may prove decisive in shrinking the illegal market.

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