The Malacañang has announced on Thursday that the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) is now accepting requests from players’ relatives to block their access to online gambling games.
Palace Press Officer Claire Castro advised Filipinos to have PAGCOR bar family members hooked on these games, especially the Scatter or casino slot games offered by licensed gaming websites under the agency, as reported by RH 14 Leth Narciso.
A legal website can be monitored and controlled by PAGCOR, enabling player bans in response to complaints from kin, Castro said.
“Nakausap po natin si Atty. Jeremy Luglug, ang AVP ng Electronic Gaming Licensing Department. Partikular dito sa larong “Scatter”: ayon po sa kanya, ang Scatter po ay isang game na ino-offer ng mga licensed gaming website. So kapagka po ito ay in-offer naman ng isang licensed gaming website, nako-kontrol po ito, namo-monitor po ito,” she explained in a press briefing.
“At kung ang pamilya man ay nagkakaproblema sa kanilang kamag-anak dahil nagugumon sa sugal, maaari po sila agad pumunta sa PAGCOR para po ma-ban ang tao na ito sa paglalaro,” she added.
The challenge lies in the persistent operation of illegal online gaming websites, Castro admitted.
PAGCOR, with the help of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), has already shut down around 7,000 of these, she disclosed. However, new sites spring up after every crackdown.
Despite the repetitiveness of the process, the government will not stop taking down unauthorized websites, she assured.
