Cebu City Councillor proposes fines for those found advertising online gambling in public
Philippine Cebu City Councillor Joe Garganera has proposed fines for gambling companies found advertising in public and private spaces.
The Cebu City Anti-Gaming Ordinance builds on a resolution that Garganera sponsored on December 16, 2025.
The original resolution showed strong opposition to all gambling advertisements and assigned city officials to monitor. The new ordinance adds fines to the resolution to strengthen enforcement.
The introduction of enforcement followed officials’ concerns about the rapid growth of online gambling in the city.
Garganera stated that the increasing number of gambling advertisements could normalise betting within families, minors, and low-income families, and linked the rise in ads in the city with a surge in online betting.
Officials found that the number of advertisements for the platforms had increased in streets, on social media, on digital screens, and at events.
Ahead of the most recent Sinulog Festival, Cebu Archbishop Alberto Uy took to social media to ask the organizers not to accept sponsorships from gambling operators to preserve the religious sanctity of the festival, after it announced on 8 January that it had partnered with igaming operator BingoPlus.
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The Backstory
What is driving Cebu City’s next enforcement step
Cebu City’s push to attach fines to public promotions for online gambling did not emerge in a vacuum. City officials have spent months escalating their response to highly visible marketing for betting platforms, saying the ads normalize wagering for families and minors and fuel a surge in online play. The proposed penalties build on a broader clampdown that aims to remove gambling promotions from streets, LED screens and social feeds while tightening behavior on government networks. The move also reflects rising pressure from faith leaders, neighboring cities and national regulators to curb how gambling reaches consumers.
Local lawmakers first laid groundwork by instructing agencies to monitor and remove illicit placements, then looked to add teeth as ads proliferated across public and semi-public venues. The fines push is designed to make noncompliance costly for operators and intermediaries, signaling City Hall’s shift from awareness to enforcement. It comes as officials contend that fragmented oversight lets promotions slip through gaps between city rules and national ad standards, especially online and at live events where sponsorships can double as de facto advertising.
The stakes are financial and social. Cebu’s tourism economy relies on major festivals and events that attract sponsors, while policy makers warn that ubiquitous promotions can spur repeat play and indebtedness among low-income households. The latest proposal attempts to recalibrate that balance by discouraging public-facing campaigns without wading into a broader national debate over legal gambling itself.
A citywide ad ban set the stage
In earlier action, the City Council adopted a citywide ban on all gambling advertisements, citing links between promotional exposure and addiction, financial hardship and youth risk-taking. That measure swept in billboards, posters, printed materials, digital promotions and LED screens. It tasked the Business Process and Licensing Office, the City Police, the City Legal Office and other agencies with coordinated enforcement, and paired the ban with steps to discourage government employees from gambling online on the clock, including blocking access on city networks.
The local prohibition cast Cebu as an early mover among major Philippine cities that sought to reshape the media environment rather than wait for a national rule. By treating highly visible promotions as a public health concern, the council framed advertising not only as commercial speech but as a driver of social outcomes. The proposed fines are a logical next phase: they translate a normative stance into a financial deterrent for violators and a clearer mandate for city enforcers.
Officials argue that the ban and fines are complementary. The ban defines the scope of unacceptable placements, while penalties aim to reduce repeat offenses and deter new campaigns before they appear. Together, they attempt to limit the gray areas that advertisers and promoters might exploit, especially in pop-up events and third-party screens.
Religious and civic pressure sharpened the debate
Public sentiment in Cebu has been shaped by strong advocacy from church leaders. The archbishop-designate, Alberto Uy, called for a permanent national online gambling ban, warning that digital betting corrodes family life and values. His appeal echoed a broader push by Catholic leaders to restrict youth access and tighten oversight. In Cebu City, the tension surfaced around high-profile sponsorships. Ahead of the Sinulog Festival, Uy used a Facebook post urging Sinulog organizers to reject gambling sponsorships, arguing that religious celebrations should not serve as marketing venues for betting firms.
Those interventions added moral urgency to City Hall’s regulatory path. While the council’s formal rationale stresses research on advertising’s role in relapse and risky behavior, the church’s posture mobilized constituents and spotlighted sponsorships that blur the line between community events and commercial promotion. That civic pressure narrowed political space for permissive policies, making enforcement enhancements more likely to advance.
The dynamic also underscores how local decisions ripple beyond city limits. Cebu’s festivals attract national attention and corporate partners; what gets permitted there signals norms for other local governments. By pursuing both bans and penalties, Cebu amplifies a model other cities can copy.
National regulators tighten exposure windows
Manila has not stood still. The national gambling regulator PAGCOR moved to limit exposure during family viewing hours, announcing a ban on primetime TV gambling ads between 5:30 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. after talks with the Ad Standards Council. PAGCOR framed the time-based blackout as a way to keep ads away from shared mealtime hours, while stopping short of a total prohibition. The regulator also pointed to existing curbs on billboards and common carriers like buses and trains.
These national steps complement Cebu’s local strategy by shrinking the reach of broadcast ads while cities move against out-of-home and event-linked promotions. The split approach reflects different levers: PAGCOR can restrict national media inventory and set standards, while local governments police physical spaces and community programming. Together, they create fewer unregulated channels for gambling outreach, even as digital platforms remain a moving target.
PAGCOR’s stance is calibrated. Leaders have said they favor strict regulation over an outright ad ban, and they have balanced industry growth with consumer safeguards. For cities like Cebu, that means local rules will likely continue to fill gaps left by national policy, especially in public spaces and municipal events.
A broader shift across cities and the ad supply chain
Cebu is not alone. Pasig City enacted a public gambling ad prohibition that bars placements on billboards, city-regulated transport, terminals and street-level media, while allowing advertising inside licensed venues. Mayor Vico Sotto linked the rule to research showing that promotions can trigger relapse among those trying to cut back. The Pasig measure suggests a template for urban centers that want to cordon off public exposure without eliminating legal gambling’s ability to market to adult patrons inside licensed premises.
Upstream, PAGCOR and the Ad Standards Council signed a memorandum to pre-screen all gambling ads across media before release, putting betting promotions in the same review category as alcohol and over-the-counter medicines. The agreement adds a compliance checkpoint for creative content and placement, potentially reducing the flow of borderline or misleading messages before they reach cities like Cebu. It also firms up national oversight while legislators debate whether broader online restrictions are warranted.
The convergence is notable: cities are drawing bright lines in public spaces; the regulator is narrowing time windows and vetting content; and religious leaders are pushing for heavier limits or outright bans. For operators, the result is a higher compliance burden and fewer high-visibility channels. For local governments, enforcement now hinges on coordinated monitoring, consistent penalties and cooperation with national screeners.
As Cebu moves from a blanket ban to fines for violators, the city is testing whether financial deterrence can curb the remaining ad inventory that slips through. Given the rising ad spend around online gambling and the steady growth of igaming revenues nationally, successful enforcement in Cebu could inform how other jurisdictions calibrate penalties, sponsorship rules and exceptions. The outcome will shape how visible gambling becomes in public life, and how regulators balance a legal industry’s marketing needs with the risks they say are most acute for the young and the vulnerable.
