Philippine police make over 100 arrests at suspected offshore gambling hub
Philippine police arrested 17 foreigners and 95 locals during a raid on a suspected offshore gaming operator hub in Taguig City on Monday night.
The operation targeted the tenth floor of a building in Bonifacio Global City, in which it found a business allegedly posing as an IT solutions company.
The Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, together with the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission and the Southern Police District, served an arrest warrant against a Chinese national, but in apprehending him, uncovered what appeared to be an active illegal online gambling operation.
Inside the building, investigators found more than 100 computers, some of which were showing the illegal online gambling URL. Several smartphones were also discovered, along with evidence that they had been used in other scam activities.
According to the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, the supposed IT company was not registered with PAGCOR. Authorities are now verifying the status of the workers, including whether the foreign nationals possessed valid permits.
Some Filipino workers detained at the scene denied involvement in online scam activities.
Meanwhile, investigators believe the arrested Chinese national may have served as an interpreter for the suspected hub. Officials said charges will be filed depending on the results of ongoing documentation and verification.
Earlier in the week, an arrest warrant was issued for the Mayor of Porac, Jaime Capil, over graft charges linked to a POGO hub.
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 raid matters now
The Taguig City bust lands at a pivotal moment for the Philippines, which is pushing to cement itself as Asia’s next gaming powerhouse. Industry leaders have argued that Manila’s growth story is built on rising tourism, investor-friendly policy and an online segment that has surged since the pandemic. At the IAG Expo this week, a top casino executive said the country is on track to become the region’s No. 2 gaming hub behind Macau, crediting regulatory shifts that pulled more operators into the formal net and tightened anti-money laundering oversight. He noted that online and electronic gaming already accounted for more than half of first-half revenue. That case for momentum is detailed in an analysis of the Philippines’ gaming ascent, which also points to the country’s removal from the Financial Action Task Force gray list as a confidence boost.
The latest raid, however, underscores the tension at the heart of that growth. Regulators have sought to channel online betting into licensed frameworks, yet local authorities continue to uncover unregistered operations that mimic legitimate IT and outsourcing firms. The discovery of a floor packed with computers, phones and a live gambling URL speaks to a familiar playbook: operate in plain sight, lean on mixed workforces of locals and foreign nationals and pivot between gambling and other online scams. It is the type of case that tests whether policy gains can outrun the ingenuity of illicit operators.
A boom collides with a crackdown
The Philippines’ growth narrative is unfolding alongside a sustained regional clampdown on illegal betting platforms. South Korea’s police have run a year-long operation targeting offshore sites that cater to domestic players and move funds through cross-border networks. The campaign has led to more than 5,000 arrests and the recovery of KRW123.5 billion. Authorities there say the offenses skew young and are increasingly organized and transnational, with a focus on sites hosted overseas. The operation is set to continue through October 2026, signaling that governments expect the problem to persist despite headline arrests.
That pressure intersects with Manila’s own enforcement. As growth in online gaming accelerates, opportunists have tried to exploit gaps between licensing reforms and on-the-ground oversight. The Philippine raid shows both the scale of these attempts and the coordination among agencies now responding. The Criminal Investigation and Detection Group joined with the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission and local police to execute an arrest warrant, only to find an active gambling floor. It mirrors the Korean approach: use targeted warrants and financial tracing to peel back layers of shell companies and recover proceeds.
Cross-border networks find a foothold
Beyond isolated hubs, authorities are tracking bigger webs that leverage the Philippines as an operational base. Korean investigators recently dismantled a ring that they say ran an online casino network worth more than KRW5 trillion using live video feeds from overseas gaming firms. The group allegedly registered a vendor company in the Philippines in 2024 to distribute services and spun up hundreds of sites while appointing managers to run them. Police seized cash, froze accounts and placed two suspects on Interpol’s red notice list. The case, outlined in a report on the illegal network tied to the Philippines, shows how regional actors deploy local storefronts as logistics hubs and payment channels for far larger schemes.
The Taguig operation bears similar hallmarks: a purported tech business, a multilingual workforce and equipment configured for high-volume traffic. Investigators say some seized devices showed evidence of other scam activity, suggesting the same infrastructure can toggle between gambling and fraud. That flexibility is part of the challenge for regulators. A single address can host customer support, payment processing and marketing for multiple illicit enterprises, complicating the task of proving specific violations and tracing money flows back to masterminds outside the country.
India’s IPL betting surge keeps illegal markets busy
On the subcontinent, the Indian Premier League’s cricket season has again drawn a wave of illegal betting, despite casino gambling being legal in parts of India. Goa police recently arrested 45 people in a multicity sweep after agents allegedly took bets from hotel rooms during matches. Laptops and phones were seized for forensic analysis, and investigators say the arrests likely capture only a fraction of active bookmaking cells that channel wagers to offshore sites. The appeal is obvious: quick liquidity, high volume and the cover of hospitality venues where tourists and cash circulate.
Authorities are also chasing the technology behind these operations. In a separate action, Indian police arrested 14 suspects linked to the Mahadev platform, accusing them of running “panels” that acted as portals for IPL bets. Investigators confiscated hundreds of financial instruments and devices and moved to freeze thousands of bank accounts. The focus on panels and payment rails maps to the Philippines’ challenge: the illicit market thrives on modular tech stacks that can be rebranded and redeployed faster than authorities can dismantle them.
Stakes for regulators, investors and workers
The convergence of raids in Manila, multi-jurisdictional busts in Korea and broad actions in India underscores what is at stake. For the Philippines, credibility as a rising gaming hub depends on how cleanly the market can separate licensed online operators from underground rivals. The regulator PAGCOR has tried to lower licensing barriers while tightening compliance, a strategy credited by industry leaders for drawing operators into the formal sector. But each discovery of an unregistered hub inside a modern office tower revives questions about how thoroughly onshore oversight extends to the building-by-building level.
For investors, the balance between growth and risk is shifting. The same report that framed the Philippines as Asia’s next No. 2 hub also acknowledged that online scrutiny and the exit of some offshore gaming operators have reshaped the landscape. Legitimate firms benefit if enforcement pushes gray-market players out, but short-term turbulence can affect capital plans, hiring and vendor relationships. Lawful IT and outsourcing tenants face collateral damage when mixed-use floors become targets for raids, which can disrupt business and complicate visa and permitting processes for foreign staff.
For law enforcement, the mission is moving from episodic raids to sustained intelligence-led campaigns. The Korean model of long-horizon operations and asset recovery, India’s emphasis on panels and banking freezes, and Manila’s multiagency warrants point toward a regional playbook: follow the money, seize the hardware, flip low-level suspects and widen cases across borders. The Taguig arrests fit squarely in that pattern and will likely feed into document checks, immigration verifications and financial probes that reach well beyond a single floor in Bonifacio Global City.
The broader message is clear. As Asia’s legal gaming markets expand, the incentive for illegal operators to mimic and infiltrate the same ecosystems grows. Whether the Philippines can keep its growth story intact will hinge on how quickly regulators close the gap between rules on paper and enforcement on the ground—and how effectively they coordinate with neighbors facing the same fight.
