Palace: Marcos Assessing Impact of Online Gambling

The Marcos administration is conducting a careful and thorough study on the impact of online gambling, Malacañang said yesterday amid criticisms over President Marcos' silence on the issue in his fourth State of the Nation Address (SONA).

- HELEN FLORES

"This must be carefully studied. We cannot just order its removal hastily," Presidential Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro said at a Palace briefing.

Castro said critics should also consider the revenues earned by the government from licensed online gambling operators that fund public assistance programs.

"If we immediately ban online gambling and other licensees are affected, will it affect the government's assistance to students, Filipinos?" the Palace press officer asked.

"We must determine first where the problem is coming from, is it from the licensed online gambling app or the unlicensed ones? We must find out where our fellow citizens are getting addicted to, is it from illegal gambling app?" she said.

The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. collected around ₱50 billion from online gaming operations in 2024, according to PAGCOR chairman Alejandro Tengco.

Tengco said half of the revenue directly funds social services, such as the Universal Health Care Act, Philippine Health Insurance Corp., Philippine Sports Commission and Dangerous Drugs Board.