The Philippine Senate is now pushing for a total ban on online gambling, led by Senator Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri, who warns that it is destroying families, fueling addiction, and causing financial collapse—especially among low-income Filipinos.
Zubiri even shared a disturbing insight from his own son: 1 in 4 of his son’s friends are already gambling online. When he asked how, his son explained that many minors gain access through their parents’ e-wallet accounts, functioning like digital “extensions”—similar to supplementary credit cards. The gambling apps and platforms likely assume it’s the adult playing, but in reality, it’s the children—underage, unmonitored, and vulnerable.
This alarming revelation exposes a massive digital and parental failure. Gambling sites aren’t enforcing proper age restrictions. And many parents remain unaware that their children have access to these apps.
Banning online gambling entirely won’t fix this loophole. In fact, it will only drive these young users deeper into the arms of illegal, unregulated platforms—where there are no rules, no protections, and no limits.
THE REAL CRISIS: ONLINE LOAN SHARKS
What’s even more dangerous—but disturbingly under-addressed—are the online loan sharks operating freely in the country.
These illegal, unregulated digital lenders offer quick cash, only to trap borrowers under high interest rates. When people fall behind on payments, they are subjected to:
- Relentless harassment and threats
- Public shaming on social media
- Emotional and psychological abuse
- And in many cases, desperation that leads to crime or even suicide
A senator has also revealed that property-related crimes like theft and fraud have surged by 480%, committed not by hardened criminals, but by desperate individuals just trying to settle their loans before loan sharks humiliate or harm them.
And here’s the hard truth:
Many low-income Filipinos who gamble online are doing so with money borrowed from these loan sharks.
So if we want to seriously address gambling addiction, cut off the money supply first.
THE SILENT MENACE: ILLEGAL ONLINE GAMBLING SITES
Also lurking in the background are illegal online gambling platforms that:
- Operate without government licenses
- Pay zero taxes
- Bypass age verification
- Provide no consumer protection
These sites are multiplying and spreading fast—completely outside the government’s control. If the Senate moves to ban even regulated online gambling, it’s essentially handing over the industry to these criminals—making enforcement impossible and putting even more lives at risk.
LEGAL ONLINE GAMBLING: A REGULATED, TAXED SYSTEM
In contrast, licensed online gambling operators are subject to government regulations and taxes. They contribute billions of pesos annually to the national budget—funding public schools, hospitals, disaster response, and social welfare programs.
Scrapping this entire system means punishing law-abiding operators while giving more room for illegals and loan sharks to thrive. That’s not reform. That’s regression.
A DEEPER LAYER: THE E-WALLET LOOPHOLE AND DIGITAL PARENTING GAP
The revelation that minors are gambling using their parents’ e-wallets cannot be ignored. It’s a ticking time bomb.
This isn’t just a gambling issue. It’s a systemic digital safety crisis.
Parents must step up. They must:
- Limit e-wallet access strictly to themselves
- Activate parental controls and app restrictions
- Regularly monitor transaction histories
- Initiate open conversations with their children about the real risks of gambling
Government regulators and platform providers must act with urgency:
- E-wallets must implement stronger identity verification
- Gambling apps must adopt real-time, mandatory age-check systems
- Platforms must have built-in blocks that prevent minors from playing, regardless of whose account they’re using
- Mandatory pop-up warnings, just like those on cigarette packs, should appear before any gambling session begins
To ignore this is to abandon our children to the wolves—to fail as parents, platforms, and policymakers alike.
WHAT MUST BE DONE—NOW
We do not need a blanket ban. We need smart, aggressive, and focused action:
- Ban illegal gambling platforms and dismantle their operations.
- Destroy online loan sharks—block their apps, shut down their networks, prosecute their operators.
- Strengthen regulation of legal gambling platforms through:
– Mandatory addiction and risk warnings before gameplay
– Tight restrictions on advertising, especially targeting youth and the poor
– Unbreakable age verification protocols
– Stricter parental control tools on e-wallet and gambling platforms
– Audits and compliance monitoring of all digital financial apps
A BETTER QUESTION
This is not just a legal matter. It’s a battle for public safety, moral leadership, and digital responsibility.
So instead of asking, “Should we ban online gambling?”
We should be asking:
Why haven’t we banned online loan sharks and illegal gambling sites yet?
Why are we attacking regulated industries that play by the rules—while allowing real abusers to operate freely and destroy lives?
Enough delay. Enough distractions.
Let’s stop targeting what’s visible and start destroying what’s truly dangerous.
Ban the abusers. Regulate the rest. Protect Filipino families with action—not panic.
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