A House hearing on online gambling turned explosive as House Majority Vice Chairperson and FPJ Panday Bayanihan partylist Rep. Brian Poe laid bare the massive scale of illegal operations siphoning billions of pesos out of the Philippines.
Poe revealed that just eight illegal online gambling companies are raking in an estimated $50–70 million every month from Filipino users — untaxed profits that should have gone to government coffers.
“If we were to take these eight companies as an example of online gambling, which is unregulated and currently profiting, based on my sources, they make about $50 million minimum each month, which should be taxed and given back to government,” Poe said.
“If you combine that per annum, we’re looking at basically $1.4 billion, which could be revenue because of the 30% that we’re supposed to be getting. That’s equivalent to ₱82 billion a year, just from these eight companies alone,” he added.
Among the apps flagged in the hearing were Poppo Live, Awaz, Vone, BoloUP, Halla Live, Niki (Nikki Live), Ximi Video Live, Gem Gala, Himme (Hime), and HiChat — all operating under the guise of livestreaming or entertainment platforms while allegedly serving as fronts for gambling.
PAGCOR Chairman Alejandro Tengco admitted the regulator is aware of these sites but has no legal authority to shut them down.
“What we do is, we collect all these sites every day, and we immediately send the names of these illegal sites to DICT, CICC, NTC, PNP Cybercrime Group, and also to NBI,” Tengco said. “The truth is, when it comes to illegal [platforms], Congressman, there is no process. It is not in PAGCOR.”
According to Tengco, PAGCOR receives around 2,000 complaint letters every month, with 60% involving illegal operators. Of the 12,000 illegal sites identified, about 8,000 have been taken down.
Still, Poe warned that the problem is escalating.
“These companies continue to operate and target Filipinos. Let’s take, for example, Poppo Live, which continues to operate. What many people don’t know is that it operates under the guise of a normal gaming app on Google Play, but there is a sophisticated network of converting tokens into actual cash,” he said.