Philippines grapples with online gambling boom - and doom

It started with a 100 peso ($2.25) bet on a game she found through a Facebook advertisement.

- Mara Cepeda

Ms. Ana Reyes (not her real name), a 28-year-old clothes vendor in the southern Philippine province of Davao del Norte, still remembers the thrill of her first win.

In 2023, she deposited a small amount via local e-wallet GCash to try her luck in an online slot game. That same day, she walked away with a surprise 3,000 peso payout.

For a mother raising two toddlers with her husband, who sells balut, or fertilized duck eggs, on the streets at night, it felt like a miracle.

"As a first-time player, I was so happy," Ms. Reyes told The Sunday Times, on condition of anonymity. "I honestly thought online gambling would finally help us escape poverty."

At one point, she won as much as 30,000 pesos by betting 3,000 pesos. But the quick win was a trap.

Soon she was suffering losses and borrowing money from friends she deceived just to keep playing. Her husband got pulled in too.

They were hooked for about a year, losing tens of thousands of pesos. It was not until Ms. Reyes began fighting with her husband over money that she snapped out of it. She turned to prayer, deleted all gambling apps from her phone, blocked the platforms and destroyed the SIM card she used for betting.

"I really hope the government bans online gambling," she added. "It's a big no. It almost destroyed my family."

Her story is increasingly becoming common across Filipino households. Lawmakers and church leaders raised the alarm in July 2025, citing an uptick in cases where online gambling or e-games tore families apart, depleted savings and pushed students into financial ruin.

More than 80 gaming platforms are legally registered with the government and run by local operators. And the revenue from e-games by the state-run Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) has become a key source of government revenue.