Latest news with #onlinegambling
Arab News
3 days ago
- Politics
- Arab News
Philippines' Marcos moves to address online gambling crisis amid calls for ban
MANILA: Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will examine policy options to address the online gambling crisis gripping the nation, his office said on Saturday, as calls mount for the government to enact tighter regulations, or ban internet betting completely. Concerns are growing over the rising number of Filipinos battling addiction to online gambling, which has become more accessible through social media and e-wallet platforms. Marcos is planning to convene a conference of stakeholders to help develop a policy to tackle the crisis, the Presidential Communications Office said in a statement issued on Saturday. 'The president underscored the need to carefully examine policy options, saying an outright ban on online gambling is not (necessarily the) solution,' the statement read. Marcos recently told a media gathering that 'a ban will not take care of the problem,' adding that his administration seeks to identify its root cause. 'We really have this tendency sometimes, when there's a problem, we just ban it. It's not necessarily the solution,' Marcos said, according to a transcript supplied by his office. 'Maybe it is. Maybe after all the discussions, we'll conclude that a ban is necessary — then we'll implement a ban. But let's study it properly. Let's not jump into it impulsively. We have to be measured in our responses. If it comes down to a ban, then we will ban. But if there are better solutions than a ban, we will take those on.' Online gambling has been called a 'silent epidemic' in the Philippines, amid a surge in cases that have sometimes reportedly torn families apart, depleted savings and pushed students into financial ruin. While there is no official data on how many Filipinos are addicted to online gambling, a 2023 survey by Capstone-Intel found that 64 percent of the nation's 117 million-strong population had tried online betting. More than 80 gaming platforms run by local operators are legally registered with the government, and the revenue from e-games has also become a key source of government revenue. In the first half of 2025, the government's gaming regulator — the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation — recorded a gross gaming revenue of 114.83 billion pesos, (around $2 billion) from the e-gaming sector alone, accounting for more than 50 percent of the government's total gaming revenues over the same period. Last month, Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri filed a bill seeking to ban all forms of online gambling in the country, saying in a statement issued on July 4 that the practice was 'quietly harming' Filipinos, especially minors and the most vulnerable. The Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines has also called on the government to 'declare any type of online gambling illegal.' CBCP president Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David said in a pastoral letter: 'This is no longer a simple problem of individuals. It is now a public health crisis in our society, just like drug addiction, alcoholism and other types of addiction. It destroys not only the individual but also their families.' Others, like Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, are pushing for tighter regulations — including raising the minimum age of players from 18 to 21 and prohibiting e-wallets from providing direct links to online gambling platforms — rather than an outright ban. DigiPlus Interactive, which operates gaming sites BingoPlus, ArenaPlus and GameZone, has said that banning licensed platforms 'does not eliminate demand for online gaming, but merely shifts users to unregulated black markets,' and that it supports tighter regulation.
Bloomberg
5 days ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Philippines' Marcos Says Online Gambling Ban to Stoke Illegal Operations
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said a total ban on online gambling platforms will lead to a proliferation of illicit operations which will be more difficult to eradicate. 'The first effect of banning it fully is to put it underground, and then we have no control,' Marcos said in an interview with GMA News released late Thursday.
RNZ News
6 days ago
- Health
- RNZ News
Midday Report Essentials for Thursday 7th August 2025
business food 36 minutes ago In today's episode, Maori are being warned to be vigilant as online gambling sites use fake names and photos to lure people in; An emergency doctor says there will be serious consequences for patient care if St John goes ahead with a plan to get rid of volunteers in hospital EDs; With unemployment at its highest level in five years and a very tight job market - many job seekers say it's disheartening applying for jobs and hearing nothing back beyond an automated response; Food companies are rushing to push protein products, but do we really need all this added protein?
RNZ News
6 days ago
- RNZ News
Online gambling sites using fake names and photos to lure people in
life and society te ao Maori 26 minutes ago Māori are being warned to be vigilant as online gambling sites use fake names and photos to lure people in. Hāpai te Hauora chief operating officer Jason Alexander spoke to Charlotte Cook.
Forbes
01-08-2025
- Business
- Forbes
How Crypto Boosts America's $67 Billion Shadow Gambling Industry
While traditional gambling companies struggle to turn consistent profits, a parallel universe of crypto casinos has contributed to an empire worth $81.4 billion in gross gaming revenue, according to controversial new research that challenges everything we thought we knew about online gambling. New data from Yield Sec's comprehensive US analysis sponsored by the The Campaign for Fairer Gambling - analyzed the entire US online gambling marketplace – including iGaming, casino, sports betting and crypto reveals an even starker picture domestically: of the $90.1 billion American online gambling marketplace in 2024, a staggering $67.1 billion—74%—flowed through illegal channels, growing 64% year-over-year compared to just 36% growth for legal operators. The Great Crypto Gambling Deception Most industry analysts have been looking at the wrong numbers entirely, according to Vali. Traditional market research firms peddle sanitized reports claiming the global online gambling market sits around $90 billion total. But these figures only capture the visible, regulated slice of a vastly larger pie, he argues. "Everyone makes the same mistake," explains Ismail Vali, founder of anti-crime platform Yield Sec, whose military-grade monitoring technology has uncovered the true scope of illegal gambling. "We legalize and regulate, then assume crime just disappears. That's not how crime works." The reality is far more troubling, if Vali's estimates prove accurate. In any given marketplace, he claims upwards of 70% of gambling activity flows through illegal channels, exploiting regulatory gaps with surgical precision. When New York restricts gambling to sports betting only, offshore operators immediately offer casino games and prediction markets. When jurisdictions impose age limits of 18 or 21, criminal networks target 14-year-olds instead. Online Gambling's Crypto Fueled Gold Rush Yield Sec's state-by-state analysis reveals the true scope of regulatory capture. California and Texas, with no legal online gambling, see 100% illegal market share worth $5.5 billion and $4.5 billion respectively. But legalization offers no panacea—Ohio's legal operators capture just 15% of their $6.2 billion market, while 917 illegal operators target American consumers from offshore havens. FEATURED | Frase ByForbes™ Unscramble The Anagram To Reveal The Phrase Pinpoint By Linkedin Guess The Category Queens By Linkedin Crown Each Region Crossclimb By Linkedin Unlock A Trivia Ladder Cryptocurrency has become the perfect vehicle for this regulatory arbitrage. Unlike traditional payment methods that leave clear paper trails, crypto transactions offer pseudonymity and cross-border fluidity that regulators struggle to track. The scale is breathtaking, assuming the methodology holds up to scrutiny. alone (the largest crypto casino) reported $4.7 billion in gross gaming revenue for 2024, rivaling the biggest traditional operators. The platform claims 25 million users placing 300 billion bets since 2017, accounting for up to 4% of all bitcoin transactions globally. Yet Stake represents just a fraction of the crypto gambling ecosystem, according to Yield Sec's analysis. The firm claims to have identified tens of thousands of crypto casinos worldwide, each exploiting the same regulatory loopholes with devastating efficiency. The Method Behind The Madness Of Illegal Online Gambling How do you measure an industry that operates in shadows? Yield Sec claims to have adapted counter-terrorism technology originally designed to track ISIS content online, repurposing it to monitor gambling audiences across eight key platforms: search engines, websites, streaming services, mobile apps, affiliate networks, social media, and emerging AI language models. The breakthrough came through what Vali calls 'value per visit': calculating exactly how much money users spend based on their browsing behavior, time spent on gambling pages, and registration patterns. This methodology has, by Vali's account, proven remarkably accurate, correctly predicting Super Bowl and March Madness betting volumes within margins of error that would make pollsters weep with envy. "We've been right every year for three years on those two events," Vali notes. "If we're right legally, we have to be right illegally, because it's the same methodology." The Human Cost Of Crypto Gambling The implications extend far beyond market share battles between Flutter and DraftKings. Crypto casinos typically require minimum deposits 10 times higher than regulated sites, targeting committed gamblers rather than casual players. They offer virtually unlimited product selection, from celebrity death pools to war zone territorial betting, content designed to generate social media engagement that funnels users toward more profitable casino games. Perhaps most disturbing, according to Yield Sec's research, is the deliberate targeting of vulnerable populations. During Brazil's social welfare crisis, Vali's team estimated 25% of public benefits payments flowed directly into gambling sites, a figure the government later confirmed was accurate, lending some credibility to the firm's broader claims. The pandemic revealed crypto gambling's true adaptability. When professional sports shut down, illegal operators didn't panic—they created their own content. "Sports betting farms" now produce streams of amateur basketball games, table tennis matches, even snail racing, all to maintain the content pipeline that drives user acquisition. The Pushback Against Crypto Gambling Industry critics argue Yield Sec's numbers are impossibly high, and their skepticism isn't without merit. Tanzanite, a competitor analytics firm, published a detailed rebuttal claiming crypto gambling represents only $10-11 billion globally. Their methodology relies heavily on blockchain analysis and self-reported figures from major operators—arguably more transparent sources than behavioral inference. But this criticism misses a crucial point, Vali counters: criminal enterprises don't accurately report their revenues. "Do you really believe companies that operate illegally when they're shaking that bag of money saying we're only making this much?" he asks. 'No one is that dumb in the criminal world.' Still, the massive gap between Yield Sec's estimates and those of established research firms raises questions about methodology and potential bias in a company whose business model depends on convincing clients that illegal gambling represents an existential threat. Traditional Casinos Fighting Crypto Casinos In The Shadows Traditional gambling companies find themselves in an impossible position. They spend billions on compliance, taxation, and responsible gambling measures while competing against operators who offer the same products without any of these constraints. Flutter and DraftKings have captured over 80% of the legal US sports betting market, yet both companies have struggled with profitability. The American online gaming industry has produced exactly one profitable quarter in seven years of operation—a stunning indictment of an industry supposedly worth billions. Meanwhile, crypto casinos operate with minimal compliance costs, no meaningful customer protection requirements, and access to markets where traditional operators face outright bans. They've turned regulatory differences into competitive advantages. The Regulatory Maze of Crypto Gambling The numbers expose the fundamental failure of America's patchwork legalization approach. States with fewer legal operators consistently show lower gambling losses as a percentage of income. Oregon, Maine, and Arkansas—with an average of just 2 legal operators each—register below the national average for states with no legalization at all. Meanwhile, in major markets like New York, illegal operators capture 72% of the $7.4 billion market despite legal sports betting being available. The legal landscape remains deliberately murky. Most crypto casinos maintain licenses in jurisdictions like Curaçao or Malta. They are less interested in complying with local laws, but rather interested in securing banking relationships and payment processing services. These "crappy offshore licenses" cost as little as $20,000 but provide zero authorization to target customers in major markets. When challenged, operators retreat behind claims of "gray market" legitimacy. But as Vali puts it bluntly: "There is no gray market. If you're licensed somewhere but taking money from everywhere, you're a thief." Recent developments suggest the regulatory tide may be turning. The UK Gambling Commission has issued 287 cease-and-desist notices to crypto gambling operators since April 2024. Several US states are pursuing legal action against Kalshi and other prediction market platforms that claim federal derivatives regulation supersedes state gambling laws. The Future of Crypto Gambling What emerges from this data is a picture of an industry in transition, though the true scale remains hotly debated. The old model of geography-based regulation is crumbling under the weight of borderless technology and sophisticated criminal enterprises. Yield Sec's research suggests the solution isn't more regulation but better enforcement of existing laws. The technology exists to identify and track illegal gambling operators in real-time, Vali argues. What's missing is the political will to deploy it systematically. The stakes couldn't be higher. As crypto adoption accelerates and regulatory frameworks struggle to keep pace, the illegal gambling industry continues its explosive growth, whether that's measured in tens of billions or hundreds of billions of dollars. Without decisive action, the shadow empire may soon eclipse its legal counterpart entirely. The Campaign for Fairer Gambling's Derek Webb argues that proponents of legalization owe legislators an apology for their 'misleading representations.' With illegal gambling revenue now comparable to America's trade deficits with China or Mexico, the choice facing regulators is stark: implement systematic enforcement using available technology or watch helplessly as the shadow empire completes its conquest of American gambling.
