Senate President Francis ‘Chiz’ G. Escudero said the surge in online gaming where bets can be placed through mobile phone apps means that “there is now a casino in every Filipino’s pocket,” as he called for a wide-ranging financial and social audit of these internet gambling platforms.
According to the Senate President, such easy access should prompt government regulators to conduct a “social cost-state benefit” analysis of the activities of the Philippine Inland Gaming Operators or PIGOS because “online gaming can now pick the pocket of every Filipino.”
He said the same accounting the government used in assessing and outlawing the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO) should apply to PIGOs.
“What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander,” the Senate leader said. “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. Hindi ba lahat ng ahensya ng pamahalaan went granular in studying the impact of POGOs on our society?”
The veteran legislator said once the inquiry on PIGOs is underway, he expects data on “tax payments of PIGOs, the ownership structure, the share of the government, police reports on crimes that addicted gamblers had committed to come light.”
A new accounting of the entire gaming industry is in order, he pointed out, to determine the true picture as to how many bets Filipinos place in a year.
“Ang nakikita lang kasi natin ay ‘yung gross revenues, net income ng mga gaming and gambling firms. Pero dapat ilabas ang total na taya na inilalagak ng mga Pilipino across the board and in all platforms,” he said.
The Senate leader said his office has received reports from industry insiders that the total online bets could reach between P600-B and P1-T a year—more than double the reported gross annual sales of a popular fast-food chain in the country.
“Mas malaki rin into ng P150-B sa value ng ani ng palay sa Pilipinas sa loob ng isang taon. I-compute mo ang halaga ng lahat ng baboy, manok, baka, kambing na na-produce sa Pilipinas, mas malaki pa rin ang nataya sa online gaming,” he said.
In weighing social costs, Senate President Escudero wants the evaluation of PIGOs to “go beyond counting pesos and cents.”
“Hindi ba addictive ang mga apps ito na pati ang pera pampagkain ng pamilya o pang gatas ng bata ay itataya na lang?” he said. “At hindi ba totoo na ang tao na sa sugal nagigipit ay sa krimen at kalokohan kakapit?”
At the same time, he expressed concern that while physical casinos can flag underage entrants to their facilities, “there is no bar for a grade schooler to log into a PIGO account.”