SENATE President Francis “Chiz” Escudero yesterday called for an accounting of how much Filipinos are spending in playing Philippine Inland Gaming Operators (PIGO) games.
Escudero said only the revenues derived from PIGOs have been reported but bets placed by Filipinos playing the online gambling games have been kept from the public.
The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) has said that the local gaming industry’s gross gaming revenues reached P410.5 billion last year.
“Dapat ilabas ang total na taya na inilalagak ng mga Pilipino across the board and in all platforms (The amount of bets placed by Filipinos in all [PIGO] platforms should also be reported out),” Escudero said.
Escudero said he has received information from industry insiders that total online bets could reach between P600 billion to P1 trillion a year, which he said is more than double the reported gross annual sales of a popular fast-food chain in the country.
He also said the alleged online bets is bigger by as much as P150 billion than the value of harvested rice, or produced pork and chicken, and other meat products.
Escudero said government regulators must conduct a “social cost-state benefit” analysis of PIGO activities, noting that “online gaming can now pick the pocket of every Filipino” since PIGO bets can be placed through mobile phone apps, which he said means that “there is now a casino in every Filipino’s pocket.”
He also said the same accounting procedure should be done by the government when it assessed and outlawed the operation of Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO) hubs in the country.
“What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. An anomaly does not cease to be one because Filipinos are doing it. I would like to see government practice the same attention to detail in assessing PIGO as it did with POGO. Isn’t it that all government agencies went granular in studying the impact of POGOs on our society?” he said.
Once the government completes its review of PIGOs, Escudero said he expects data on “tax payments of PIGOs, the ownership structure, the share of government, police reports on crimes that addicted gamblers had committed to come light.”
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has called for a review of PIGO operations amid growing public concerns on the industry’s social impact, especially on the youth.
Escudero said the evaluation of PIGOs must go beyond “counting pesos and cents.”
“Hindi ba addictive ang mga apps na ito na pati ang pera para sa pagkain, o pang gatas ng bata ay itataya na lang? At hindi ba totoo na ang taong lulong na sa sugal ay nagigipit at sa krimen at kalokohan kakapit (Isn’t it true that these apps are so addictive that money intended for food or milk for infants are spent on them? And isn’t it true that a person hooked on gambling resort to crimes)?” he said.
He added that while onsite casinos can flag underage players to their facilities, “there is no bar for a grade schooler to log into a PIGO account.”
Escudero has earlier urged concerned authorities to review the operations of PIGOs, noting that these prey on Filipino bettors, unlike POGOs which preyed on foreign gamblers.
