Sports Betting in the Philippines

Sports betting in the Philippines: what is on offer

Sports betting in the Philippines is a busy, well-developed scene. The biggest names are online sportsbooks licensed by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR): SportsPlus, BingoPlus Sportsbook and ArenaPlus. Between them they cover basketball, football, volleyball, tennis, boxing and MMA, baseball, badminton, table tennis, American football, cricket and esports, with live betting while matches are in progress².

Basketball is the national passion, and the sportsbooks reflect it. You can bet on the NBA, the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) and various international leagues, plus major football competitions such as the Premier League, UEFA Champions League, La Liga, Serie A, the Bundesliga and the FIFA World Cup².

Beyond the sportsbooks, there is horse racing, and cockfighting betting, known as e-Sabong in its online form. Esports betting has grown into a market of its own, with dedicated coverage of Dota 2, League of Legends, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, VALORANT and Counter-Strike 2².

Who may open an account: age and eligibility rules

The minimum age is 21. No individual below 21 may register on SportsPlus or place bets, and PAGCOR rules bar persons under 21 from playing, along with students of any school, college or university in the Philippines, except graduate degree holders of legal age and adults with a declared source of income¹.

SportsPlus also lists who cannot open an account: employees of its parent company, PAGCOR or their affiliates; Philippine government officials; students, except graduate degree holders of legal age or adults with a declared source of income; individuals with no declared source of income; and persons not authorized under PAGCOR's rules¹. If a player is later found ineligible, funds in the account are forfeited in favor of the government¹.

One more restriction matters to travelers: SportsPlus is meant to provide betting only within the areas covered by Philippine jurisdiction, and betting from outside the Philippines is not allowed¹. PAGCOR's remote gaming platform rules say the same: platforms must not accept bets from outside the country⁹. The practical risk of using unlicensed offshore sites is that you have no local protection if something goes wrong.

PAGCOR-licensed sportsbooks: SportsPlus, BingoPlus and ArenaPlus

Three names dominate the licensed market.

• SportsPlus is the sports betting brand of Infinitech Digital Gaming Corporation, registered with PAGCOR under the brand SportsPlus SP and the domain www.sportsplus.ph¹⁰. It offers sports betting and electronic casino games¹².
• BingoPlus is a PAGCOR-licensed online gaming platform offering online bingo, slots, live casino, poker, Tongits, Pusoy, Perya, arcade, lotto, sports betting and fishing games¹³. Its sportsbook is a dedicated, legal sportsbook for eligible users in the Philippines².
• ArenaPlus launched in February 2023 and is a PAGCOR-licensed online sportsbook aimed at Filipino sports fans³. It streams PVL, PBA and NBA plus many more leagues worldwide¹⁴.

BingoPlus and ArenaPlus are both operated by DigiPlus Interactive Corp., which also runs GameZone and a network of over 130 physical bingo sites nationwide¹⁴.

What you can bet on: basketball, football, volleyball and esports

The licensed sportsbooks cover a wide menu of sports²:

Live betting is available while a match is in progress, and ArenaPlus adds live streaming so you can watch PVL, PBA and NBA games while you bet⁶.

Bet types explained: from moneyline to Asian handicap

The bet types you will see most often on the licensed sportsbooks are²:

• Moneyline: a straight bet on which team or player wins.
• Handicap: the stronger side gives a virtual head start to the weaker side to level the match.
• Over/Under (totals): bet on whether the combined score goes over or under a set number.
• Parlay: several selections combined into one bet; all must win.
• Correct score: predict the exact final score.
• Both Teams to Score (BTTS): common in football; both sides must score.
• Double chance: cover two of the three outcomes in a three-way market.
• In-play betting: place bets while the match is running, with odds that shift in real time.

Asian handicap deserves a special mention because it is the most popular football market in Asia. Fun88, for example, offers lines of 0, 0-0.5, 0.5, 0.5-1 and 1 goal and more, along with over/under, 1x2, parlays, first half bets, corners, yellow and red cards, live betting, outright winner and top scorer markets¹⁵. The half-lines (like 0.5) remove the draw: your bet either wins or loses. The split lines (like 0-0.5) split your stake across two handicaps.

Odds formats and how payouts work

Decimal odds are the standard in the Philippines. They are straightforward: the number represents the total payout rather than just the profit¹⁶. At odds of 2.00, a successful ₱1,000 bet returns ₱2,000 total, which is your ₱1,000 stake plus ₱1,000 profit².

A worked example from GG.BET: if you bet PHP 100 on Team B at 3.00 odds and it wins, you get PHP 200 profit plus your PHP 100 stake back, a total of PHP 300⁷. Some sites also show fractional and American odds, especially for esports, but decimal is what you will see most⁷.

One rule to remember on SportsPlus: once bets are placed and accepted by the system, you cannot cancel or change them¹.

Payments: deposits, withdrawals and KYC verification

SportsPlus accepts only AMLC-compliant channels: over-the-counter and online banking, eWallet systems, and other legitimate money transfer services accredited by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas¹. BingoPlus lists GCash, Maya and bank transfers for Philippine users². Deposits in your account bear no interest, and fund sharing between players, known locally as pasaload, is prohibited¹. Funding and withdrawals go only to and from your own registered account¹.

Withdrawals on SportsPlus are processed and credited within 10 minutes; if the funds are not received, the platform investigates within 1 to 3 banking days¹.

KYC verification is required. SportsPlus requires full KYC and identification verification before your first withdrawal or cash-out, or within 3 days from registration, whichever comes first¹. The process includes a standard verification with a video call to confirm your identity and submitted information, with a screenshot photograph taken, before your account is confirmed¹. Accepted IDs include Driver's License, Passport, SSS, TIN ID, Postal ID, Voters ID and UMID, and your registered name must match your ID¹. SportsPlus customer service is available 24/7 if you need help¹⁷.

Horse racing and E-Sabong: betting beyond the sportsbooks

Horse racing is the oldest form of legal sports betting in the country. Betting runs on a totalizator (tote) system, both at the track and off-course, with no independent bookmakers¹⁸. The minimum bet on each horse race is P 5.00, and admission to a racetrack is often free⁵. Principal bet types include Win, Place, Daily Double, Forecast, Winner-Take-All, Pick 6, Quartet, Trifecta, Superfecta, Pentafecta and Triple-Trifecta¹⁸.

E-Sabong is the online version of sabong, the Filipino tradition of cockfighting. PAGCOR's regulatory framework for e-Sabong states that the platform must not accept bets from outside the Philippines and must not be accessible outside the country¹⁹. The government has also ordered crackdowns on illegal e-Sabong operations, with reports that persons aged 20 and below were able to bet due to lax registration processes²⁰. You can read more in our guide to sabong: cockfighting in the Philippines.

Esports betting in the Philippines

Esports betting has its own dedicated page, which covers the scene in depth: esports betting in the Philippines. In short, GG.BET accepts players from the Philippines and covers major tournaments like The International, the League of Legends World Championship and CS Majors, along with smaller leagues and qualifiers²¹. It offers moneyline, totals, spreads and prop bets, live match stats and results, real-time live odds and integrated real-time streams of matches²². Payment options for Philippines players include Neteller, Skrill, Paysafecard and ecoPayz, plus wire transfers and credit or debit cards²¹.

Philippine Racing Club and Santa Ana Park: how to play and what you can win

The Philippine Racing Club closed its racing operations in November 2022, so Santa Ana Park at the Saddle and Clubs Leisure Park in Naic, Cavite no longer holds races, though the club manages betting stations within Metro Manila and other parts of the country²³. Its franchise authorizes horse races on all Saturdays, Sundays and official holidays, plus the eve of public holidays starting no earlier than 5:30 in the afternoon, up to five days a year²⁴.

To bet, you pay your bet to the teller at the main track's selling window or an off-track betting station, or through the TELEBET system; all sales are consolidated by the club's online computerized tote system²⁵. The Santa Ana Pick 6 asks you to select the six first-place winners from six designated legs, with single, multi-value and rumble betting types; you must get all six to qualify for the dividend²⁵. See also our guide to horse racing in the Philippines.

SportsPlus: how to play and what you can win

SportsPlus has its own detailed page: SportsPlus: how to play and what you can win. The essentials: register at www.sportsplus.ph with a name matching a government-issued ID, complete KYC within 3 days of sign-up or before your first withdrawal, and keep to one account per player, as multiple accounts lead to forfeited winnings¹. Deposits and withdrawals run through BSP-accredited banking and eWallet channels, withdrawals are credited within 10 minutes, and customer service runs 24/7¹. For the wider online scene, see online gambling in the Philippines and gambling payments in the Philippines.