Unlink online gambling from e-wallets, BSP orders

Platforms given 48 hours within which to comply

- By DHEL NAZARIO

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has ordered e-wallet applications to remove within 48 hours all online gambling links that appear on their respective platforms.

The BSP gave this order during the Senate Committee on Games and Amusement hearing on online gambling on Thursday, Aug. 14. Senator Erwin Tulfo presided over the hearing.

It was Senator Rodante Marcoleta who first stated that the BSP should issue a suspension order on e-wallet platforms to deny links to all these online game platforms.

“The Monetary Board of the BSP has approved our policy, that we ask, or we order, direct the BSP-supervised institutions to take down and remove all icons and links redirecting to online gambling sites,” BSP Deputy Governor Mamerto Tangonan said.

But Senator Alan Peter Cayetano, chairman of the Senate Committee on Banks, Financial Institutions and Currencies, questioned why the BSP acted only on the day of the Senate hearing.

“Can you clarify? You have an order to remove [gambling] links, so they [e-wallet apps] did not follow you? If you open your Gcash app now, the links [of online gambling sites] are still there,” Cayetano told Tangonan.

The senator said he personally checked a staff member’s phone and saw that links to online gambling were still available on the e-wallet app.

Tangonan admitted that it was only on that day when the BSP gave e-wallet companies 48 hours to remove the links.