Topic: PH Senator pushes a Ban to POGOs and All Sort of Online Gambling... - page 6. (Read 2233 times)

If they are not paying taxes, then obviously they should be shutdown, but first they will have to come after them and chase for those unpaid taxes. And then after that, they can close and then go after that supposedly corrupt officials that help them established this POGO inside the country.

It should be complete and swift as well, together with the police and military and then capture everyone that is related to this crime. I heard that there are still being investigated in the Senate, but it seems that it has taken them so long already.

I think the issue here isn’t really about legality; it’s about the corrupt government officials who have let POGOs operate without proper documentation because they’re being paid off. As a Filipino citizen, I’m in favor of banning POGOs since the benefits don’t really go to the people but to corrupt politicians instead, who don’t even pay taxes. It’s better for the majority, too, as it helps reduce the illegal activities associated with POGOs.

I just hope the President doesn’t turn a blind eye to what’s happening, because that would show people he’s a responsible leader who can protect the country from these kinds of problems.

If there's lots of people got affected on the operation they have done and they used anything that can fool people to make them believe that there's easy way to earn money thru this activities then much really better if government will implement that decision to save the lives of their people.

But in the case of POGO if the officials of those businesses will just do pure business and don't mix with other illegal activities well maybe its fine to regulate them, But seems they are engaging with risky matters which involve national security or threat to humanity I guess that banning should be done. Yeah those taxes it can provide would bring good help to the country, but if the exchange of everything is the welfare of people then I guess its better to eliminate this since human life is important.

The government should still considering banning specially all about illegal casinos as the Philippines is not very deep as far as gambling is concern. You will always hear horror stories from anyone in the country now and it really saddened to hear my countrymen really getting themselves in gambling.

So hopefully POGO and everything related to gambling should be controlled and minimized by the current sitting President and those officials shouldn't make money out of this gambling operations and not be the protector. Otherwise, I don't know what the state of the country will be in the next 2 years.

Thanks for this information mate, i don't know that we are being watch by financial watch dogs for allowing money laundering to happen in our turf.

As far as the tax is concern, i also don't know if the tax from these POGOs really help our economy as operate under the radar so i think they don't pay that much.

I remember in the past administration, this is one that has paid a lot of taxes and helped for more assistance to most of us. But it cannot be helped now when things have come back to normal. I agree that solutions are there and if the government will have to exercise its authority and cooperation with these, it can be helped. But on the other side of it, we've seen the dark side of these POGOs, they should operate the way it is but then they've become a den of scammers.

Extortion. 
Which has become common for processes like this and it's a sad thing. Even for passports, we've seen it happen that without going through the right process, these foreign workers can get one.

Good point,  if those people behind this business don't have any access with corrupt leaders,  they won't be able to facilitate any illegal business,  that's the first thing the government should do, passing laws regarding to this is a good step but even  there's implementation of that rules but if the leaders or any government officials which is involves to this activities then it will be easy for those facilitators to continue their business,  just need a monthly allowance for those corrupt people and they will just enjoy all the privileges.

Banning online gambling is not a solution to the problem, but officials who deliberately allow illegal online casino platforms to operate - that's what the government must overcome, because from them illegal online casinos can operate freely without fear of government regulations. Because no matter how hard the government bans illegal online casinos, they will continue to grow and operate, as happened in my country, even here the government not only criminalizes gamblers/online casino operations, but also spends a lot of money just to create firewalls that prevent people from accessing online gambling sites (which are very easy to overcome with VPN). But instead of being effective, the number of online gamblers here is the same and they are not afraid of the punishment.

By reading some post here we can say that those POGO is scary hub since it was linked to certain illegal activities like crypto scamming and torturing.

But when looking at the Tax generated last year it gives 8.8 billion pesos to Philippines government which is a lot of money generated by this POGO's.


Source link read it here https://business.inquirer.net/411795/dof-tax-take-from-pogos-ballooned-by-127-to-p-8-9b-in-22

If the government just regulate it and try to implement more strict rules and make sure that those crime against humanity will be eliminated then for sure that they can earn a lot which is helpful for their countries growth.

But guess they are in focus on negative sides and decide to stop this. Maybe government didn't see anything good if they allow it to continue since somehow people safety is more better than gaining money from gambling.

Maybe at the time of the arrest, the police found other facts that were related to it so they concluded that is should be banned. We don't know for sure how their investigation at that case because they will not open that to public. We can only guess with our speculation because when a business is illegal, they can also related to the other illegal business such as human trafficking, murder, money laundering and even drug. The government treat gambling is the same as the other things especially when that is illegal in their country so that will not surprise if they banned online gambling and offline gambling to avoids the same things happen again. But that will not stop people to keep playing gambling and they can find a way to visit the casino.

How is online gambling and offline gaming responsible for these vices mentioned? The above societal problems highlighted have nothing to do with gambling in general. With or without gambling, it'll continue if government can not offer long lasting solution to tackle the issue. Banning gambling with the aim of reducing the crime is just a misplaced of priority.


No, I don't think and in fact it will not solve the problem but rather aggravate it. If government decides to ban gambling entirely instead of reviewing it regulation, two things will be involved. Firstly, the supposed revenue generation from gambling operators will seized and secondly, many people will lose their job who depend on gambling to survive.

Don't get me wrong, but I think it has been the hub already from many years. It could have been just magnified by the current administration because of so many issues like kidnapping fellow Chinese and then torturing them if the families from China can't repay the money that this syndicates have loan to their fellow Chinese.

Even before like online "sabong" or cockfighting has been the centered as well as there was investigations before. So it's really hard for a country like the Philippines to removed gambling for good. As many are making money, thru corruption and other bribes to local government officials or even cabinet secretaries.

That’s actually possible. POGO could have been great since it generates a significant amount of tax revenue for the country. Unfortunately, as PAGCOR (the agency regulating POGO) mentioned, their authority is limited to checking licenses, they don’t have the capacity to monitor what’s happening inside. Solutions could be found, but without the right government to implement them, banning may just become the last resort.

If it were properly regulated, it would be a big help to the country. But ever since the influx of Chinese workers, many have come in without working visas, reportedly due to paying off immigration officials, leading to an uncontrollable situation.

You're right, he's spent a lot of people's money for his travels and each of it would cost a lot. One thing that I have noticed when pogo was banned and became the hot issue is that no more text scams that randomly came by.

They did in the past administration but right now, they don't like it. This is the ugly thing about democracy in our country and every administration has their own policy. 
We always revert to zero and start from nothing every change of government leadership.

The FATF grey list has nothing to do with the reputation of the country in order to get a loan, you know which countries are there?
Croatia and Bulgaria, do you think anyone has some issue lending money to Croatia, an EU member?
This is about something completely else and by the way neither Malta nor Gibraltar are there! 


Who would you loan money to, Argentina or Venezuela who are not having issues with the FATF, or Vietnam or South Africa? Two are "clean" and have defaulted 21 times in history the others are murky but have defaulted only 3 times and one only because of a war!
When it comes to loans at country levels with billions of infrastructure projects nobody cares about some casino crisis that is microscopic in the sea of things.

His hands is not tied rather he is completely useless and just following the flow or trend of where he will benefit. So far, his administration is one of the worst administration, I vote for BBM but I’m already regretting my decision due to lack of his presence since he start his term. He focus on foreign economic ties while leaving the local economy still the same.

He is just spending PH resources on his travel without getting in return significantly benefits. POGO is really bad but they can do better to moderate it without involving illegal activities. The problem is PH government is corrupted while politicians is busy on their own agenda to get their fair share on the country wealth.

We can be a center for international gambling hub if the government will just regulate it properly without accepting brine to Chinese syndicate.

For those who dont know, Duterte is pro China. During President Rodrigo Duterte's term, many said that drug-related incidents decreased due to his harsh anti-drug campaign. However, alongside this there was an increase in POGO most of which are connected to China. This has been a frequently discussed issue, especially with reports of illegal activities and crimes linked to POGO.

Regarding Duterte's being pro China, it was evident in his foreign policy, where he sought to establish closer relations with China compared to before, despite issues related to the West Philippine Sea. (Ika nga sinasabi ng mga mababatas natin nabenta na ang Pilipinas sa China).

I think the Philippines doesn’t need to borrow money. The focus should be on fighting corruption since these corrupt politicians are the ones who benefited the money of the state. And with that said, we need a strong leader something I don’t see in the current administration. The war on drugs under Pres. Duterte was, in my opinion, one of the reasons why the number of addicts decreased. But now, the problem is growing again. I can say this because I live in a province where drug addiction is becoming more common. While the war on drugs may not have looked good due to the high number of deaths among addicts, if it was to protect innocent lives, then I believe it was justified.

Today, I heard on the news that the International Court (IC) might soon serve a warrant to arrest the former president. I fear this could lead to civil war because Duterte still has strong support, especially from the military, whom he doubled the salary for during his administration. It seems like we are heading in that direction, as the current administration appears determined to imprison the Dutertes, who they see as a political threat in the next election. They understand the people's support for the Dutertes and want to prevent any of them from running next time.

While Ferdinand Marcos Jr. had 31 million votes in 2022 to become president, I believe his win was heavily influenced by Sara Duterte, his running mate, who won the VP race with 32 million votes. Both secured their positions with a landslide victory. There are many speculations about what could happen, and supporters might just be waiting for a trigger that could set off that civil war.

Well, even with a ban, illegal casinos are likely to continue to operate except the authorities decides to go after them, and basides, what made the casinos illegal in the first place? Two reasons, first is, they aren't registered and secondly, unregistered casino are not allowed to operate, but they continue to operate, this is what makes such casinos illegal.

In a country where there is no ban, or official ban against the operations of unregistered casinos, lawfully or according to the law, we can't say or assume that such casinos are illegal because there is no official law banning them from operating, authorities can hold such casinos for not registering, but they can't be called or referred to as operating illegally.

As a citizen where all of this unfolds, I can't help but wonder that what's happening is all just the tip of the iceberg, It started with one report that resulted in the raid of the POGO building in one small peaceful town of Bamban Tarlac, where the mayor, who happens to be of Chinese descent, was found out to be one of the owners of the land where the POGO buildings are and the ones paying for the electric and water bills of the POGO operation.

This resulted in a Senate and Congress investigation that led to exposing Alice Guo as not really a Filipino, and she just faked all his credentials and attached him as a spy of the Chinese government.
This is really ugly; it exposes the Philippine system of documentation as very corrupt; any foreigner can fake his credentials by bribing government officials.
I thought things like this happened in a movie, but we are now in the middle of espionage by a powerful country that wants to conquer a vast sea in the Asian region.