The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) on Wednesday warned against social media influencers using digital platforms to promote illegal online gambling websites targeting the youth.
In a presentation, Pagcor said one of the “emerging challenges” in the gambling industry was the rapid growth of illegal casinos through social media.
“There are numerous influencers using platforms such as Facebook, Tiktok, and Youtube to encourage prospective players to try their luck in online gaming, so they promote websites or games like “wheels of whatever” even without license from Pagcor,” said Jessa Fernandez, Pagcor assistant vice president and head of overseas gaming licensing division.
Fernandez said these gaming platforms were unregulated and offer no protection to its players. Worse, they could push the youth to gambling addiction.
"These illegal game offerings which look legit but they have no protection for their players contribute nothing to the government and have no customer verification system, but attract the youth,” she said.
However, Fernandez did not identify how many influencers were engaged in such operation.
House public order committee chair Rep. Dan Hernandez has asked Pagcor to submit to them the names of identified influencers.
Pagcor reported that about 1,954 illegal online gambling platforms remained active even after 5,793 of them were blocked over the past two years.
Pagcor earlier said that its crackdown against illegal gaming operators is largely
dependent on law enforcement agencies since it has no police powers.
