The Central Bank of the Philippines (BSP) recently issued a new regulatory draft aimed at comprehensively strengthening the supervision of payment activities related to electronic gambling, preventing money laundering, curbing gambling addiction, and severing the financial ties between the financial system and illegal gambling.
The draft explicitly stipulates that all payment service providers involved in online gambling (including payment system operators and third-party payment platforms) must obtain formal approval from the BSP before commencing operations. This move marks an unprecedented restriction on the circulation of gambling-related funds by the Philippine financial regulatory authorities.
According to the standards drafted in the proposal, all relevant platforms must maintain a minimum capital requirement of at least 300 million pesos and establish a compliance committee at the board level, while also setting up a strict anti-money laundering system. The amount that can be transferred from a user's account each day shall not exceed 20% of the daily average balance of the account; at the same time, each user's daily betting time shall not exceed 6 hours. If a user exceeds these limits or the usage time, the account will be forced into a 24-hour "cooling-off period".
In addition, all online gambling platforms will be strictly prohibited from providing any form of lending services to users, completely blocking the risk channel of "borrowing money for gambling". Platform users are also limited to those who are over 21 years old, not current students, not government officials, not military or police personnel, and not beneficiaries of the "4P" welfare program (i.e., government poverty assistance recipients).
To further ensure safety, the draft introduces a series of user identity verification and self-restriction mechanisms. All users must complete login using facial biometric technology, while the system will periodically pop up gambling risk warnings and allow users to set personalized usage restrictions, even opting for an account suspension feature.
Moreover, payment platforms are not allowed to redirect users to any online gambling sites, nor can they channel gambling services in any way. Platform employees are also prohibited from participating in any form of electronic gambling activities and will face surprise audits and comprehensive investigations.
Violations of the regulations may result in fines of up to 1 million pesos per transaction for the involved enterprises, and in severe cases, may even face suspension or revocation of operating licenses. The Central Bank of the Philippines has made it clear that existing relevant payment service providers must complete rectifications within six months, or they will be ordered to terminate services.
This draft reflects the Philippine government's attempt to cut off the online gambling chain from the payment source, build a more transparent and controllable financial ecosystem, and also indicates that the "going overseas" model of online gambling in the Southeast Asian market may face comprehensive tightening.
