Law Penalizing Illegal Online Gambling Promoters Sought

Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian is drafting a new law that will penalize not only operators of illegal online gambling sites but also those who promote them, such as influencers, endorsers, advertising agencies, and even e-wallet service providers.

- By NEIL JAYSON SERVALLOS

"We will introduce a law that will also punish any company or individual connected to illegal online gambling. For example, if you're an advertising agency, endorser, influencer, or e-wallet service, as long as you're promoting illegal platforms, you will also be penalized under this new law," he said in Filipino over radio dwIZ on Saturday.

Citing findings from the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC), Gatchalian revealed that numerous influencers and celebrities have been endorsing unregulated gambling sites, many of them unknowingly.

"To be fair to these endorsers, they didn't know the sites were illegal because they didn't check the PAGCOR website," he said. "And I found out that in illegal gambling, as long as someone places a bet, the endorser also gets a share of that bet. There's a commission involved. But again, to be fair to them, they didn't know it was illegal."