PAGCOR revenue drops 49% after e-wallet delinking bank directive

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The Backstory

Why the money dried up so fast

The plunge in gambling revenue did not happen in a vacuum. It followed the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ abrupt order in mid-August that forced major e-wallets to strip out in-app pathways to betting sites within 48 hours. The move, announced at a Senate hearing by Deputy Governor Mamerto Tangonan, allowed players to access gambling sites directly but shut the tap on one-click top-ups inside popular finance apps. Senators pressed for immediate compliance, citing mounting social harm and a proliferation of illegal operators. The central bank framed the step as an urgent consumer protection measure, a point underscored by lawmakers who highlighted recent tragedies and the sheer volume of illicit platforms. For context, officials disclosed that nearly 12,000 illegal gambling sites were active nationwide. The central bank’s directive, detailed in the BSP’s order to unlink e-wallets from online gambling, throttled a key payments rail for the country’s fastest-growing betting channels.

That payments shock rippled quickly. PAGCOR, which relies heavily on fees and revenue shares from online operations, signaled almost immediately that the delinking would dent its collections. In the first two weeks after the order, the regulator told senators that income had already fallen by as much as half, according to PAGCOR’s early readout of a 40%–50% income fall. The data, pulled from PAGCOR’s accounting and licensing systems, captured how abruptly the digital gambling economy can contract when retail payment friction rises.

Senate pressure made the clampdown stick

Political momentum ensured the directive did not fade into bureaucratic delay. Senators criticized the 48-hour window as too generous and warned of contempt citations if e-wallets lagged. The rhetoric reflected a broader shift: online gambling had moved from a revenue bright spot to a perceived public risk. During the hearing where the order was announced, the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center reported thousands of illegal sites had been taken down, yet many more remained. Those details, and the public admonitions, are captured in the Senate session that pressed for immediate delinking.

The pressure extended beyond payments mechanics to a call for comprehensive enforcement. Within days, legislators urged regulators to ensure every e-wallet—current and future—remained sealed off from gambling transactions. Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian warned that operators would exploit alternative channels unless oversight expanded across the digital ecosystem. He pointed to messaging and e-commerce platforms as emerging conduits and pressed multiple agencies to coordinate. His remarks, along with proposals to push gambling payments back onto traditional banking rails, are outlined in calls for stricter enforcement and broader disconnection from e-wallets.

Workarounds kept the bets coming

The market adapted in days. After e-wallets removed embedded betting links, licensed and unlicensed operators nudged customers toward alternate routes. Lawmakers flagged reports that some platforms instructed players to use the same e-wallets through messaging apps to fund bets, effectively hopping from regulated app storefronts to less scrutinized channels. The pivot, highlighted in how operators found ways around e-wallet restrictions, confirmed a structural challenge: payments friction can slow but not stop online gambling unless all major pathways are covered. The Cybercrime agency said thousands of illegal sites were cut off, yet the tally of active operations remained high, spanning online casinos and cockfighting sites.

That whack-a-mole dynamic shapes the policy debate. Lawmakers and regulators are weighing whether to focus on platform-by-platform enforcement or to tighten rules across the digital economy, including messaging, e-commerce and emerging fintech rails. The risk is twofold: push too hard and betting migrates to harder-to-monitor channels, but pull back and the social harms continue at scale. The rapid migration to alternative platforms after the delinking order gave policymakers a preview of the system’s ability to route around blockages.

PAGCOR counts the cost and retools its playbook

Facing a sudden revenue shortfall, PAGCOR has tried to balance fiscal concerns with public pressure for stronger controls. The regulator told senators it supports stricter oversight rather than an outright ban and previewed new technology to combat illegal operators in real time. The agency plans to deploy an artificial intelligence tool that flags and coordinates blocks on unlicensed sites with the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center and other agencies, as described in PAGCOR’s testimony on revenue impact and AI enforcement. That shift toward data-driven enforcement reflects an acknowledgment that manual takedowns cannot keep pace with the sector’s growth and agility.

PAGCOR is also leaning on prevention. At a regional regulators’ forum in September, officials outlined a framework centered on player education, mandatory operator training and broader public outreach. The initiative aims to harden the legal market against crime and addiction while limiting spillover from illegal sites. The approach, detailed in PAGCOR’s education-first strategy to tackle illegal gambling, dovetails with the regulator’s longer-term plan to separate its operator and regulator roles to reduce conflicts and sharpen accountability.

What tighter rails could look like next

The central bank signaled it would defer to Congress on sweeping changes, but interim measures are already on the table. Policymakers have discussed caps on bet sizes, tighter limits on top-ups and bans on using online loans for gambling. Senators have floated routing payments through banks to slow impulsive wagering and curb access among students and lower-income users, as framed in proposals to confine gambling payments to traditional banking. Any combination of these steps would further depress transaction volumes across digital gambling, accelerating the revenue drag that began with the delinking order.

The stakes are clear. The payments clampdown has already shown material effects on collections tied to online play, and the market’s quick pivot to alternative channels suggests enforcement must be both broad and dynamic. PAGCOR’s technological push, the Senate’s appetite for stronger oversight and the central bank’s consumer protection focus all point to a tougher operating environment. The policy path that emerges—whether tighter rails, smarter surveillance or both—will determine how much revenue returns to the legal market and how effectively the government can blunt the social costs that sparked the crackdown in the first place.