POGO crackdown again in the spotlight, police on the lookout

Kelsey Wilhelm

17 August 2026 at 7:41am UTC-4

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The Philippine National Police has reaffirmed its crackdown on former Philippine Online Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs), with increased surveillance on underground POOGs and scam hubs across the country.

PNP Chief General Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. noted that “Our personnel are on the lookout for clandestine POGO hubs that may have re-emerged despite the ban on POGO operations.”

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POGO operations in the Philippines ended with the mandate of the President, taking effect on 1 January 2025, with PNP Chief General Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. now saying the enforcement of the anti-POGO regulations provide a “clearer framework for pursuing clandestine hubs that continue to operate despite the government ban”, as reported by the Philippine New Agency.

It’s unclear which government departments have been given more enforcement capabilities, as this was one of the highly contested points during the initial enforcement of anti-illegal POGO laws.

Now, Nartatez notes that, “Our intelligence-gathering and coordination with other agencies are strong on this matter and the signing of the IRR will add more teeth in our campaign to totally wipe out the remaining illegal POGOs in the country.”

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The official sites the Implementing of Rules and Regulations (IRRs) of the act as being key in its push forward. But even amongst multiple legislative pushes, the regulator PAGCOR has not achieved more regulatory authority to do more than advise the police bodies when it has concerns.

The PNP and other government authorities are working to eliminate any remaining illegal POGO remnants together. That coordination will be key in ensuring no future POGO and scam operators feel comfortable in setting up a base in the nation, even as Cambodia and Sri Lanka aim to make sure they don’t relocate there.

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The Backstory

From regulated offshore betting to national security problem

The renewed police focus on clandestine POGO sites is the latest phase in a policy reversal that has moved the Philippines from licensing offshore gambling to treating it as a law enforcement and national security threat. Philippine offshore gaming operators expanded after they were formally regulated during the administration of former President Rodrigo Duterte in 2016, drawing foreign-facing online gambling companies, many serving customers outside the country.

For several years, the industry was defended as a source of tax revenue, office demand and employment. But that argument weakened as raids uncovered alleged links to fraud, human trafficking, money laundering, illegal detention and cyber-enabled scams. The sector’s costs increasingly appeared to outweigh its fiscal benefits, a point later adopted by lawmakers pushing for a permanent statutory ban.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. announced the end of POGOs during his July 2024 State of the Nation Address, then followed with an executive order that set the shutdown timetable. Inside Asian Gaming reported that Marcos banned all POGOs with immediate effect for new activity in July and later signed the executive order formalizing the prohibition. The nationwide ban took full effect Jan. 1, 2025.

Why the shutdown did not end the networks

The transition from a licensed industry to a banned one created an enforcement problem: Closing legal entities did not necessarily dismantle the people, properties, payment channels and technology behind the operations. Authorities warned before the deadline that not all operators had exited. Inside Asian Gaming reported in December that the Philippine government said 47 POGOs were still operating as the shutdown deadline neared.

That unfinished wind-down helps explain why police now emphasize intelligence gathering and interagency coordination. The issue is no longer whether licensed POGOs may operate. It is whether former operators, foreign syndicates or local facilitators can regroup as business process outsourcing firms, technology service providers or other fronts.

A December raid in Taguig City showed the difficulty. Police said an illegal offshore gambling hub was posing as a BPO office, with foreign nationals allegedly running an unlicensed platform and Filipino workers saying they had been misled into legitimate IT jobs. The case, detailed in a report on police action against foreign-run offshore gambling operations, illustrated how the post-ban environment pushed activity underground rather than eliminating it outright.

Legislation seeks to close gaps left by executive action

The Marcos ban gave agencies a clear policy mandate, but lawmakers argued that executive action alone was not enough. The Senate’s passage of the Anti-POGO Act of 2025 marked an effort to harden the ban through statute, widen penalties and reduce the ability of operators to restart under new names or at new sites.

The measure, as described in the article on how the Philippines passed the Anti-POGO Act, repealed the 2021 tax framework for POGOs and authorized confiscation of properties and equipment tied to illegal operations. It also targeted property owners that host such activity, a key change because POGO-style hubs depend on physical space for offices, dormitories, servers and surveillance-controlled work areas.

Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, one of the law’s principal advocates, framed the legislation as a response to public pressure to end the industry’s social damage. The law also followed pressure from Sen. Risa Hontiveros, who has repeatedly argued that POGOs became embedded in organized criminal activity. A copy of the Senate bill was made public through the Senate’s legislative records at Senate Bill No. 2868.

The repeal of the earlier POGO tax regime was significant. The 2021 framework, available through the Bureau of Internal Revenue at Revenue Memorandum Circular No. 107-2021, reflected the period when the government sought to capture revenue from offshore gaming. The new law signals that policy has shifted from taxation to eradication.

PAGCOR’s role narrows as police take the lead

The enforcement architecture remains complex. PAGCOR, the gaming regulator, once licensed POGOs and still plays a role in identifying unauthorized gaming activity. But the regulator does not have the same police powers as law enforcement agencies. That has made coordination with the Philippine National Police, National Bureau of Investigation, Bureau of Immigration and other bodies central to the campaign.

PAGCOR has also had to manage confusion and opportunistic fraud after the ban. The regulator warned that scammers were circulating messages claiming POGO licenses would be reopened or sold to investors. In its warning, covered in the report that PAGCOR denied claims that POGOs would reopen, Chairman Alejandro Tengco said there were no plans to revive the sector during Marcos’ term.

Those scams matter because they show that the POGO brand still has commercial value among investors and intermediaries willing to bet on a policy reversal or exploit uncertainty. The government’s challenge is therefore twofold: stop actual clandestine hubs and prevent fraudsters from using the former licensing system as bait.

Police operations against other banned gambling activities also show a broader enforcement posture. In March, the PNP arrested 170 people in Tondo during a raid on illegal e-sabong, another prohibited online betting activity. That case, involving an operation at a cockfighting venue licensed for in-person activity but not online betting, underscored how legal or legacy gambling infrastructure can be repurposed for banned digital wagering. The illegal e-sabong crackdown reinforced the PNP’s argument that online gambling enforcement requires both physical raids and cyber investigations.

The regional spillover risk

Philippine officials increasingly describe the POGO problem as transnational. Many workers, operators and victims are foreign nationals. Scam compounds can move across borders. Payment flows, SIM cards, messaging apps and online platforms do not respect domestic enforcement lines. That has pushed lawmakers to call for deeper cooperation with Southeast Asian governments and with countries whose citizens are targeted by scams.

Hontiveros has argued that deportation alone may be inadequate if foreign suspects can simply reestablish operations elsewhere. Her proposal for a stronger regional response, described in the article on her push for the Anti-POGO Act and cooperation against illegal online gaming, points to a wider policy concern: the Philippines can shut down domestic hubs, but displaced networks may migrate to neighboring jurisdictions or continue targeting victims remotely.

The human trafficking dimension complicates enforcement. Not every foreign worker found in a hub is necessarily an offender; some may have been recruited through deception or coercion. That distinction affects immigration handling, prosecutions and international coordination. It also raises the stakes for police raids, which must preserve evidence against organizers while identifying potential victims.

The current PNP campaign sits at the intersection of those pressures. The legal ban is in place, the Senate has moved to strengthen it and PAGCOR has disavowed any reopening. Yet the persistence of disguised hubs suggests the decisive test is implementation. If authorities can trace networks beyond individual raids, seize enabling assets and coordinate regionally, the POGO ban could become durable. If not, the industry may survive in smaller, more mobile and more criminalized forms.