• A directive from the Philippines’ central bank ( BSP) ordering e-wallets like GCash and Maya to block gambling sites is forcing operators to find new channels.
• Lawmakers report that gambling operations are now shifting to mainstream messaging apps like Viber and Telegram, and even e-commerce sites such as Lazada.
• The move highlights the “whack-a-mole” challenge facing regulators, as a ban on one channel simply displaces the activity to others that are harder to monitor.
• The regulated industry, via the PlaySafe Alliance, has warned that cutting off legitimate payment channels for licensed firms risks pushing more players to the untraceable black market.
• This comes as a government agency reports it has identified nearly 12,000 illegal gambling sites operating in the country, underscoring the scale of the challenge.

A recent regulatory crackdown on payment channels in the Philippines is already having unintended consequences, with gambling operators reportedly migrating their services to mainstream messaging and e-commerce platforms to bypass the restrictions.

The situation unfolded after the country’s central bank, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), instructed major e-wallet providers to sever direct links to gambling websites embedded in their applications. Speaking after a Senate hearing last week, Senator Erwin Tulfo, chair of the committee on games and amusement, confirmed that operators were quick to pivot. “Gambling operators have already begun using messaging applications such as Viber and Telegram, as well as e-commerce sites like Lazada, to sustain their operations,” he said.

The ‘Whack-a-Mole’ Problem in Regulation

The development highlights a classic regulatory challenge. The BSP directive, which saw market-leading e-wallets GCash and Maya both confirm their compliance, was intended to curb easy access to online gambling. However, operators appear to have immediately found workarounds.

Senator Tulfo noted that one operator, BingoPlus, promptly issued an advisory to its users, informing them they could continue playing via its app, website, and Viber, while still processing payments through the major e-wallets. The e-commerce platform Lazada was also flagged for hosting merchants selling BingoPlus vouchers, which act as gambling credits. “This is a malicious and predatory practice that we should not tolerate,” said Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, who has been a vocal critic of the industry.

The Scale of the Illegal Market

The difficulty of containing the activity is compounded by the sheer size of the unregulated market. During the same Senate hearing, the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center reported that it had identified a staggering 11,985 illegal gambling sites operating in the Philippines. This figure includes thousands of unlicensed online casinos and online cockfighting ( e-sabong) platforms.

A Warning from the Regulated Industry

In response to the payment ban, the country’s licensed gaming sector has cautioned against broad, sweeping measures that fail to distinguish between legal and illegal operations. The PlaySafe Alliance, a group representing regulated iGaming companies, warned that such actions could be counterproductive.

“Delinking licensed operators from online payment platforms would not stop gambling,” the alliance said in a statement. “It risks pushing players into the dark corners of the internet where activity is untraceable, taxes disappear, and harm is harder to detect.” The group stressed that enforcement should be laser-focused on eliminating unlicensed operators, rather than disrupting the payment channels for legitimate, tax-paying companies that have implemented KYC and responsible gaming tools under the supervision of the regulator, PAGCOR.