A Philippine Senate committee filed a report in September 2023 recommending the immediate expulsion of Philippine offshore gaming operators, or POGOs. The recommendation was made through Committee Report No. 136, signed by Senator Sherwin Gatchalian and nine other senators1.
Gatchalian, who heads the Senate committee on ways and means, had urged the Marcos administration in March 2023 to ban POGOs to help maintain peace and order. In his chairman's report, he cited the risks of POGOs' continued operations in the Philippines1.
"In September 2023, the Senate panel officially filed the recommendation through Committee Report No. 136 to recommend the immediate expulsion of POGOs."
Senator Bong Go was not among the signatories to the report1. Go later said he supported the Marcos administration's ban on POGOs, announced by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in his third State of the Nation Address, which instructed the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) to cease POGO operations by the end of 20241. Two days after that announcement, Go issued a press release expressing support for the ban, acknowledging the industry's revenue and job contributions while saying Filipinos' security must be prioritized1.
Go's record on the industry includes a vote in favor of Republic Act No. 11590, the law taxing POGO operations, which was signed into law by the Duterte administration on September 22, 2021. He was one of 17 senators who voted in favor; only Senator Risa Hontiveros and then-senators Francis "Kiko" Pangilinan and Frank Drilon opposed the measure1.
POGOs are online gambling companies based in the Philippines that offer services to customers abroad, particularly Chinese clients. They are licensed and regulated by PAGCOR to operate legally1. They have been linked to crimes including human trafficking, prostitution, money laundering and tax evasion1.
What it means for players
The committee report was a recommendation, not a ban in itself. The ban that followed came from Marcos in July 2024, with PAGCOR instructed to cease POGO operations by the end of 20241. POGOs served customers abroad rather than domestic bettors, so the direct effect fell on the offshore-facing industry and its workers rather than on land-based casinos or other PAGCOR-licensed gambling in the Philippines. The status of individual operators, and which POGOs were affected by the ban, has been reported separately1.
What happens next
The report recommended immediate expulsion of POGOs1. Marcos announced a complete ban on POGOs and instructed PAGCOR to cease POGO operations by the end of 20241. Go said the administration should not be selective with the POGO ban1. Separately, at a House mega panel hearing on August 28, Police Lieutenant Colonel Jovie Espenido named Go as a channel of an alleged P20,000 cash reward per kill given to police under Duterte's drug war, money allegedly sourced from POGOs and small town lotteries; Go denounced the testimony as malicious and slanderous and said he never managed funds associated with the drug war or POGOs1.
