Cebu Archbishop appeals to Sinulog Festival to reject gambling sponsors
Cebu Archbishop Alberto Uy has taken to social media to ask Sinulog Festival organizers to not accept sponsorships from gambling operators in order to preserve the religious sanctity of the festival.
The Sinulog Festival is a cultural and religious celebration held annually on the third Sunday of January in Cebu, Philippines. The plea from the Archbishop came after the festival had announced a partnership with igaming operator BingoPlus on 8 January.
BingoPlus will operate various booths through 18 January across Cebu, supplying people with games, interactive experiences, and exclusive merchandise. The operator also will host a series of mall shows featuring special performances at SM Seaside City Cebu and host back-to-back music nights at Plaza Independencia, Cebu.
In a Facebook post, Uy said that the partnership “contradicts the values of Santo Niño” and “creates a moral inconsistency” for the church.
Sinulog Festival Inc. Director Jojo Labella insisted that the organization had upheld its duty in rejecting offers from other gambling operators and igaming platforms.
“We asked for wisdom from the friars, how much we really need, and we decided not to accept online gambling sponsorships. We do not want to give the impression that we are patronizing gambling,” Labella added.
Labella noted that the partnership with BingoPlus was beneficial for the festival, arguing that it did not promote gambling but instead aligned with the key values of the event.
The Archbishop has been outspoken about gambling in the past. In June, he took to Facebook to urge President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to permanently ban igaming.
Charlotte Capewell brings her passion for storytelling and expertise in writing, researching, and the gambling industry to every article she writes. Her specialties include the US gambling industry, regulator legislation, igaming, and more.
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The Backstory
Why the sponsorship fight escalated
The latest clash over the Sinulog Festival’s sponsorships did not happen in a vacuum. Church leaders in Cebu have been sharpening their stance on online wagering for months, warning that the rise of digital betting threatens families and undermines faith communities. That steady drumbeat set the stage for this week’s pushback against commercial partnerships seen as incompatible with a religious celebration that draws millions of devotees of the Santo Niño.
Archbishop-designate Alberto Uy laid down a marker last summer. In a July 25 statement, he urged President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to impose a permanent ban on online gambling, calling it a public harm disguised as entertainment. His open letter framed gambling not as a private vice but a societal risk, and it asked policymakers to choose human dignity over revenue. The appeal, detailed in our coverage of the Cebu archbishop-designate’s call for an online gambling ban, foreshadowed the friction that would surface once festival sponsorships came into view.
The archdiocese’s posture has since hardened into a broader argument about moral consistency, civic responsibility and who gets to shape the message around one of the country’s most visible religious events. That explains why a sponsorship that organizers say focuses on entertainment and logistics has become a flash point. To church leaders, brand presence from gambling-aligned firms at religious venues blurs lines they want to keep bright.
Local policy shifts tighten the perimeter
Even before the current controversy, Cebu City officials were already acting on worries about exposure to gambling promotions, particularly for minors. The City Council approved a prohibition on gambling advertisements across billboards, posters, printed materials and digital displays, positioning the measure as a public health intervention. The ordinance directs city agencies to police compliance and remove violative ads, and it complements internal controls that block gambling sites on city-run networks.
That move, explained in our report on how Cebu City banned gambling advertisements, reflects a broader pivot toward preemptive safeguards. The policy rationale rests on research linking ads to higher gambling participation and financial stress. For festival organizers, it raises a practical question: even if a sponsor’s onsite activation avoids overt betting pitches, does the association undercut a city policy designed to limit brand normalization? The ad ban narrows the space for visible promotion, which in turn heightens scrutiny of sponsorships tied to gambling ecosystems.
A widening debate on advertising and risk
The Cebu fight mirrors a global reckoning over how marketing shapes behavior in fast-growing wagering markets. New data from Canada underscores the stakes. The Toronto-based Responsible Gambling Council found that more than a third of Ontario adults placed a bet after seeing a television ad, and the influence was stronger among younger adults and communities at higher risk of harm. The council’s survey, released ahead of the Super Bowl, highlights how perceived expertise and persuasive advertising can fuel an “illusion of control” that leads people to stake more than they can afford.
The findings, detailed in our coverage as the Responsible Gambling Council highlighted problem gambling ahead of the Super Bowl, are not a direct blueprint for Cebu. But they offer evidence that informs local policy. If advertising and activations amplify risk, regulators and community leaders tend to favor tighter guardrails near youth, schools and religious or civic events. In that light, the archdiocese’s objection reads less as a church-state clash and more as alignment with emerging public health concerns about normalization and access.
Regulators draw firmer lines on payments and compliance
Beyond advertising, governments are also trying to close the back doors that allow gray-market gambling to flourish. Brazil updated its rulebook for payment providers in March, barring them from holding accounts for unlicensed betting operators and requiring rapid reporting of suspicious transactions. The directive, issued after Brazil legalized online gambling in late 2023, puts financial intermediaries on the front line of enforcement. Providers must detect and halt unauthorized gambling flows, then notify the regulator within 24 hours with detailed data.
This crackdown, outlined in our story on how Brazil shored up regulations to prevent illegal gambling payments, illustrates the compliance playbook taking shape in new and maturing markets. While the Philippines’ framework differs and the Sinulog dispute centers on sponsorship and values, the shared theme is accountability. As regulators tighten payment channels and transparency, communities expect event organizers to show similar diligence when weighing partnerships that could signal tacit approval of betting.
Industry counters with responsible-play pledges
Operators and adjacent platforms have tried to meet regulators and advocates halfway by expanding responsible-play tools and partnerships. One case is Lotto.com, a digital lottery platform that works with the National Council on Problem Gambling and promotes limits, self-exclusion and spending reports. The company’s push during Problem Gambling Awareness Month signals an industry strategy: emphasize safeguards and education to reduce harm while preserving legal market growth.
Our report on Lotto.com’s partnership with the National Council on Problem Gambling shows how such collaborations are used to build trust with regulators and the public. For festivals and civic events, the question becomes whether these commitments translate into sponsorships that meet community standards. Organizers may ask for clearer conditions, such as no on-site signups, no targeted promos and visible responsible-play messaging. Church leaders, by contrast, may argue that any affiliation at a religious celebration is a bridge too far.
What to watch next in Cebu
The practical stakes are twofold: governance and economics. Governance hinges on who sets the boundaries for a religious-cultural event that spans church grounds, city streets and commercial venues. Cebu City’s ad restrictions and the archdiocese’s stance create a high bar for sponsors linked to gambling. Organizers are trying to balance funding needs with community expectations, insisting that partnerships can be entertainment-focused without promoting wagering.
Economically, the sponsorship market around major festivals is tightening as brands weigh reputational risk and compliance exposure. If gambling-aligned sponsors face formal or informal exclusion, organizers may need to shift to consumer goods, telecom and financial services with fewer regulatory headwinds. That pivot could compress near-term budgets but reduce controversy that distracts from the event’s religious core.
Expect more coordination among city officials, festival leaders and church authorities on eligibility criteria and activation rules. The Philippine gaming regulator continues to refine responsible gaming controls, and local enforcement of the ad ban will test how strictly Cebu applies its standards during high-profile festivities. The broader trend is clear: as evidence mounts about advertising’s influence and as regulators harden compliance around payments and access, community institutions are asserting tighter control over what brands can ride the visibility of beloved public events.
The Sinulog debate is a litmus test for how a city with deep religious roots navigates the commercialization of celebration. What happens here could inform how other Philippine festivals, and their sponsors, calibrate the line between revenue and responsibility this year.
