Gcash and Maya in an update over the weekend said they have both complied with the central bank directive to remove all its in-app gaming sites from their platforms by Saturday evening.
The Ayala Group subsidiary Gcash said in an advisory that it has suspended access to gaming via “Glife” on August 16, at 8pm.
PLDT-owned Maya, likewise, disabled its “The Games” feature.
Gcash reiterated that it “supports adapting stronger safeguards on online gaming” and that it will “continue to work with regulators and industry partners to protect the financial health of Filipinos.”
On Sunday, Maya said it has fully complied with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) directive by disabling links to gambling sites. “We fully support the BSP’s efforts and will continue to work closely with them in promoting the responsible use of digital financial services,” it added.
The BSP on August 14 released Memorandum No. M-2025-029 suspending in-app gambling access in mobile payment apps and websites and ordering its removal within 48 hours of the memo issuance.
The BSP announced the suspension order during a hearing of the Senate Committee on Games and Amusement last Thursday.
ln-app gambling access includes any product/service that redirects an account holder to a gaming/gambling site.
BSP Governor Eli Remolona Jr. said they had to discontinue in-app gambling sites due to a “surge in online gambling transactions” and “heightened public concern on its financial health impact to consumers”.
The suspension is temporary however, pending the issuance and implementation of a proposed stricter BSP circular that will guide how banks and e-wallets deal with online gambling.
The memo said the new regulation has the “corresponding policy that provides standards and expectations for BSls (BSP supervised institutions) in the provision of online gambling payment services.”
The BSP in July circulated a draft of the proposed circular that will impose various limits to gaming access.
These stringent rules on online gambling are expected to curb addiction, fraud, and prevent harm to financial consumers.
Based on the draft regulation, banks and e-wallets will be required to have strict identity verification including biometric checks.
It will have daily limits on gambling-related transfers to reduce excessive financial losses, as well as time-based restrictions on gambling payments to temper impulsive behavior; and user tools for setting personal spending caps, taking voluntary breaks, or self-exclusion from gambling transactions.
BSP rule violators will pay P100,000 per day for persistent non-compliance. The maximum penalty is P1 million per transactional violation.
The new circular, when approved, will take effect after 15 days.
At the moment, the BSP is regulating 28 bank-owned electronic money issuers (EMIs) or e-wallets, and 43 non-bank EMIs such as Gcash, Maya, Alipay, Gpay Network (GrabPay), OmniPay and PayMongo.
