THE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) will soon issue stricter rules on online gambling to curb addiction, fraud, and prevent harm to financial consumers, especially those belonging to the vulnerable sector.
“(BSP) is finalizing new rules, developed following public consultation, that will require banks, e-wallets, and other financial service providers to adopt stronger safeguards against gambling-related harm,” the BSP said on Thursday.
To eliminate risks associated with online gambling, the BSP prepared an updated draft circular in July and had this circulated to banks and non-banks such as e-wallet operators and payment service providers (PSPs) for review and feedback.
The proposed regulations will require banks and non-banks to have strict identity verification including biometric checks such as facial recognition, to make sure only eligible individuals – mainly adults — can do online gambling.
The new circular will also implement daily limits on gambling-related transfers to reduce excessive financial losses; time-based restrictions on gambling payments to temper impulsive behavior; user tools for setting personal spending caps, taking voluntary breaks, or self-exclusion from gambling transactions.
According to the proposed circular, the new rules should strengthen financial consumer protection, ensure financial health, and control the social and financial risks associated with online gambling.
Once approved, online gambling-related payments via digital platforms will follow stringent or even severe rules to prevent minors and financially-at-risk individuals from accessing these services.
Stricter guidelines
Based on the draft guidelines, eligible account owners are at least 21 years old; must not be a student at any school, college, or university; not a government official; and not a member of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, including the Army, Navy, Air Force, or the Philippine National Police.
They should not be a beneficiary of the 4Ps program of the Department of Social Welfare and Development; not in the National Database of Restricted Persons of the Philippine Gaming and Amusement Corp. (PAGCOR); does not have PAGCOR’s Gaming Employment License; and is not liable to other legal or contractual prohibitions.
The BSP is also implementing rigid rules on PSPs and operators of payment system (OPS) intending to engage in online gambling payment services such as having a minimum capitalization of P300 million and strong anti-money laundering detection units.
Meanwhile, the central bank will be closely monitoring online gambling operators (OGO) which are licensed, authorized and registered with other government agencies.
The proposed circular will also direct PSPs to provide the facility for the creation of an online gambling transaction account or OGTA for eligible account owners that have been subjected to enhanced KYC (know your customer) measures.
Transfers to OGTA are limited to 20 percent of the user’s average daily balance. The PSPs will reject an amount beyond this limit.
The BSP said PSPs will also set a limit of six hours per day on payment services. If there is heavy usage, the PSP will set a 24-hour cooling off period.
The PSPs will, likewise, submit a monthly report to the BSP for its total online gambling-related transactions in both volume and value; number of OGTA users; list of first time and recurring/active users; frequency of access to the online gambling platform (in days); transactional data such as unique users, age, economic class, total number and amount of top-up; and list of partner OGOs.
Violators will pay up to P1 million per transactional violation under the BSP proposed rules.
The new circular, when approved, will take effect after 15 days. As part of the transition period, PSPs already offering online gambling payment services will have six months to comply and secure approval from the BSP.
