Banning online gambling must be studied thoroughly, says Palace

Malacañang on Friday said banning online gambling should be studied thoroughly, including its possible impacts to the country.

During a press conference, Palace Press Officer Undersecretary Claire Castro said this matter should be studied carefully as this may affect even the licensed ones.

She was reacting to the question about President Ferdinand ''Bongbong'' Marcos Jr. skipping online gambling during his fourth State of the Nation Address.

''So, dapat ito aralin mabuti ano ba ang dapat gawin dahil kapag nga tinanggal natin talaga agad-agad ang online gambling at maapektuhan naman iyong ibang mga lisensiyado, makakaapekto ba ito sa tulong sa bayan, sa tulong sa mga estudyante, sa tulong sa mga Pilipino? So, hindi po puwedeng magpadalus-dalos ang Pangulo dito. Dapat aralin po dahil sa totoo lamang po ang mga revenue po na ibinibigay ng lisensiyado na online gambling ay nakakapagbigay talaga ng tulong sa mamamayan,'' Castro said.

(This should be studied carefully because if we remove this, those licensed ones will be affected and we have to determine if this will affect the assistance to the nation, to students, and to all Filipinos. So, the President cannot just decide on this. This should be studied as the revenues from licensed online gambling operations are helping the citizens.)

''So, dapat pong aralin at hindi po dapat na ora-orada at mag-uutos agad na tanggalin agad iyan, dapat inaaral po iyan. Iyang ganiyan po kasi, ang gusto ng Pangulo ay inaaral bago magpadalus-dalos sa aksiyon,'' she added.

(This should be studied and it's not right to just prohibit this, this should be studied.)

The Senate is set to hold an investigation regarding online gambling in the country, as announced by Senator Erwin Tulfo, chairman of the Senate games and amusement committee.

Several other lawmakers have also called either for the total ban or strict regulation of online gambling, citing its negative impact on Filipinos who got addicted to it.

PAGCOR Chairman Alejandro Tengco earlier noted that the gaming industry regulator recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ad Standards Council (ASC) to strengthen the monitoring of gambling-related advertisements across all platforms.

It also recently ordered the takedown of all gambling ads in public spaces and primetime TV by August 15 this year. — BAP, GMA Integrated News