GCash, Maya brush off impact of e-sabong’s end

President Rodrigo Duterte’s order to terminate the operations of online cockfighting and betting or “e-sabong” will have no significant impact on the financials of major mobile wallets GCash and Maya.

At a virtual press briefing on Friday, Martha Sazon, president and CEO of GCash, said the order to stop e-sabong “doesn't have a significant contribution in our transaction volume.”

"Our revenue and profit trajectory is really doing well, very positive. And we expect to end the year at even better levels than last year," she said.

For his part, Shailesh Baidwan, president of Maya— formerly PayMaya— also said the order has "no impact" on the fintech firm’s performance.

"For the first quarter, less than 0.5% of our flow-through GTV (gross transaction value) as we call it came from there. There is no impact really on our revenue or our business," Baidwan said in a briefing on Thursday.

Duterte, in a pre-recorded Talk to the People aired Tuesday morning, announced that he approved the Department of the Interior and Local Government's (DILG) recommendation to stop e-sabong or online cockfighting operations.

Duterte’s decision came following a survey conducted by the DILG in cities and provinces regarding e-sabong operations, which is being blamed for the deterioration of moral values among many Filipinos.

As to the foregone government revenues from e-sabong, Andanar said, “tiwala kami sa kakayahan ng PAGCOR (we trust the PAGCOR’s capabilities) to generate new revenues.”

Government revenue from e-sabong hit P2 billion this year alone, according to the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR).

PAGCOR chairperson Andrea Domingo on Tuesday said the regulator “has to implement the President's decision to stop e-sabong operations immediately.”

“The Executive Secretary will issue a formal memorandum to this effect and we will serve the appropriate notice to the PAGCOR regulated e-sabong operators,” Domingo said.

Despite the absence of an official order or implementing rules and regulations (IRR) on stopping “e-sabong” operations, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año warned that those who will continue operating “e-sabong” may be arrested, saying that the President’s order has no sophistications or technicalities.—AOL, GMA News