China Pushes for Online Gambling Ban in Philippines

China urges the Philippines to halt all forms of online gambling to prevent the illegal outflow of funds and unauthorized recruit of employees.

The nation’s Foreign Ministry representative, Geng Shuang said:

“While China appreciates the move to halt the issuance of new licenses, we hope the Philippines will go further and ban all online gambling.“

Behind the Scenes

China has been working for a while to prevent an outflow of money and to keep the local economy stable. Presently, it puts a lot of pressure on Southeast Asian states to exclude online gambling from the entertainment list. According to some estimations, the online gambling industry takes several hundreds of millions of yuan to disappear from China's budget. Over the recent period, online and phone betting demand has increased in the Philippines and Cambodia due to the interest of China's gamblers.

Reacting on Chinese requests, Philippine regulator mentioned:

“We will not halt existing online casinos but will stop accepting applications for new licenses at least until the end of the year to review concerns about the burgeoning sector.“

Cambodia’s Prime Minister, Hun Sen, has also taken some steps forward. The state has just prohibited the issuance of new licenses to online gambling operators while stating that existing authorizations will not be renewed upon expiration.

China Reaction

Government spokesman, Shuang, observes progress:

“We hope it will further strengthen law enforcement with China and jointly tackle criminal activities including online gambling and cyber fraud. This will help create peace and stability in the region.“

He added:

“Online gambling is the most dangerous tumor in modern society detested by people all across the world. It is a shared hope that this problem could be effectively dealt with.”

Gambling in the Philippines

The online gambling sector has recorded significant progress in the Philippines. After President Rodrigo Duterte decided to underpin an entire sector, the state approved more tan 50 licenses to offshore gaming providers. According to estimations, the country’s offshore gaming sector will reach about 9 billion pesos value during this year.

Philippines presidential representative, Salvador Panelo, spoke about China's request. He said:

“We will have to ask the president on his policy on this.“

At the moment, the Philippines employs about casino 138,000 workers which mostly come from China. The Chinese embassy in capital Manila has just requested that local casinos stop hiring Chinese residents in casino complexes. Local Manila is concerned about the sum of money which flows out of the country via money laundering activities. Chinese citizens put additional pressure on the gambling sector by placing regular wagers in local casinos. Philippine venues are especially attractive for residents from rural Chinese areas which choose Philiphine venue over Macau – the only China city which allows casino gambling.

Source:

“China urges the Philippines to ban all online gambling“, yogonet.com, August 22, 2019.