But here’s the thing: since various gambling apps became available to play on smartphones, another more insidious form of gambling has seen its fortunes fall.
Indeed, if you're wondering why reports about illegal numbers games like jueteng, masiao, “last two,” or “ending” no longer dominate Philippine news as they once did, look no further than the rise of the legal online gambling industry that has displaced them in recent years.
Online gambling: the jueteng killer
Jueteng, in particular, has been played in the country since the 1800s. The Spanish and American colonial governments tried to stamp it out, as did the Philippine government for decades and decades since. We’re talking about over two centuries of fighting this practice unsuccessfully.
Over many decades, authorities, from officials at the national to the local government levels to law enforcers, have exhibit an inability to kill jueteng. They have failed.
Occasionally, a crusading mayor or police chief comes along and cleans up his area of responsibility of these odious activities. But once they end their terms of office, are promoted, or (sometimes) coopted, the illegal numbers games make a comeback, often with a vengeance.
It is only the recent proliferation of regulated online gambling that has succeeded in pushing jueteng to the near-oblivion where previous efforts have failed.
Just about the only time that jueteng and all these other illegal numbers games started to fall from favor with the betting public was when online gambling became more easily accessible through mobile phones.
Online gambling’s loss is jueteng’s gain
So that’s my fear: current proposals to ban (or reduce the gaming public’s access to) regulated online gambling risks resurrecting the ugly illegal side of gambling that is now on the ropes gasping for air.
Kill regulated online gambling and you cede the stage once more to jueteng — an illegal activity that authorities been trying to eliminate with no success… until the advent of these ubiquitous smartphone gaming apps.
Yes, this view is, admittedly jaded and cynical. But it is also pragmatic. We cannot win the war against illegal gambling with laws and law enforcement. Two hundred years of experience has proven that.
But we can win it through regulated activities that are transparent and plain for everyone to see and monitor and tax.
Transparency vs. opacity
It is better to have gambling done legally in broad daylight (despite the repulsion it elicits from well-meaning concerned citizens) than to have it proliferate in the darkness.
Banning regulated online gambling will shift economic power back to jueteng lords and warlords who can buy the loyalty and favor of high government officials, local mayors, and policemen from the provincial to the city levels.
I would rather that the billions of pesos that Filipinos inevitably spend on gambling go to the heavily regulated and publicly-listed companies owned by billionaires like Enrique Razon Jr. and Eusebio Tanco.
With these guys, we know exactly how much they make from online gambling every quarter.
We know exactly how much in billions of fees they remit to Pagcor, and we know how much in billions they pay in taxes to the Bureau of Internal Revenue (tax revenues that are badly needed to help the government dig itself out of the fiscal hole it got itself into during the pandemic).
We also know how many jobs for Filipinos they create (about 40,000 as of last count).
In contrast, we have zero transparency when it comes to the billions of pesos on the illegal gambling side. All we know is that they are not regulated, they flout the law regularly, they kill with impunity (literally), and they remit zero fees and taxes to the government’s coffers.
And please don’t tell me we can fight illegal gambling through tighter regulations and better enforcement. Decades of experience have proven otherwise.
What about the destroyed lives, the damaged families, the negative impact of gambling on society?
Well, guess what: all this has been happening in the dark in the past with all the analog versions of illegal gambling. With regulated online gambling, everything happens out in the open and people who become addicted to these games can be spotted early and preventively kicked off the apps — proactive intervention.
Legal vs. illegal: A crucial distinction
The risks posed by illegal online gambling far outweigh those of its regulated counterparts. Grey-market websites operate outside the reach of Philippine laws. They offer no protection for minors, no identity checks, and no assurance of fair play or guaranteed payouts. Worse, they are breeding grounds for fraud, money laundering, and digital exploitation .
In contrast, licensed operators regulated by Pagcor must comply with strict protocols on know-your-customer standards, including age verification; anti-money laundering requirements; responsible gaming measures like spending limits and complaint mechanisms; and system audits to ensure fair gameplay and financial transparency
Legal online gaming is not a free-for-all. It is monitored, taxed, and accountable. Players have access to recourse through Pagcor and law enforcement channels, unlike with illegal operators who vanish when disputes arise.
Final word: Don’t kill the firewall
Licensed online gambling platforms serve as a firewall between the consumer and the lawless wild west of the grey market. Disabling that firewall will not eliminate risk. It will increase it.
The better path is to channel this activity into a space where safety, fairness, and transparency are not just required but enforced.
If consumer protection is truly the goal, then the most effective way forward is not prohibition but precision regulation backed by public education, cross-sector collaboration, and responsible innovation.
Senior Reporter
