The President of the Philippines Urged to Ban Online Gambling
The fact that gambling continues to grow in popularity in many parts of the world should not come as a surprise. People in countries all over the globe have the opportunity to experience some of the best gambling brands in the world. This even includes states where gambling is not always legal.
Speaking of legal gambling sites, most countries require the operators to obtain permission from the local authorities. However, if we take a look at the Philippines, we can see that even offshore iGaming sites can work there and offer their services. This became possible in 2016 when former president Duterte gave permission.
7 years later, many people are unhappy with the current situation because some think the Philippines has become a place full of criminal activities. Consequently, two senators from the country are urging President Marcos to ban online gambling. If this is to happen, players won’t have access to things like the 22bet app, as well as other gambling websites and brands.
The suggestions
One of the big reasons why the senators suggested this to the president is the raid that took place a few days ago. The police visited one of the regulated gambling companies because the latter was suspected of being involved in human trafficking.
According to the data, the police raid rescued more than 3000 people, four of whom were from Singapore. The gambling operator it self also has a website where the authorities think it is involved in cryptocurrency and love scams, which also leads to human trafficking. Needless to say, the gambling company denies those accusations.
Following this accident, the two senators from the Philippines said that the president should ban online gambling right now because these companies are involved in illegal activities. Moreover, offshore websites owe the government billions of dollars because they do not pay any taxes.
Other cases
Prior to this case, the two senators have been in charge of a campaign that focuses on cryptocurrency scams that take place in different Southeast Asian countries. The reason why they were involved is that a lot of workers from the Philippines were also dragged into them. In fact, the senators discovered that such operators are also available in their own country, and they are accessible in a province near Manila. Sadly, they could not prove the company was guilty due to the lack of evidence.
The scheme was interesting because these gambling operators recruited people from other countries to work as customer support agents. However, once these people arrived in the given country, they were forced to take part in the crypto scam by creating fake social media accounts.
Once that was ready, they were forced to use fake photos of women and try to get into \romantic relationships with males using social media platforms. The idea was to lure those people into sending cryptocurrency and steal that money.
Following the case with the alleged cryptocurrency scam, there were charges for human trafficking and cybercrime against five Chinese, but their lawyer denied such a thing happened. According to him, there could not be such a thing as human trafficking because those people came into the country to work legally, and everything is well documented.
Besides the case mentioned above, in 2019, the Chinese authorities said that the Philippines should do something about these online gambling operators because many of them are linked to money laundering, extortion, and kidnapping. However, the country hasn’t changed its decision yet.
How to stay safe while using such a website
Whether you reside in the Philippines or other countries worldwide, choosing a safe gambling website should be your number one priority. There will be loads of different gambling companies at your disposal, but if you do not want to get in trouble, you should learn more about them and only choose those that are worth it.
The first thing you should focus on when deciding whether to use a given company is the license. However, as we mentioned just a few moments ago, having an offshore permit does not mean a given website is 100% legit because some of them are involved in illegal activities.
Ideally, once you find a website with a license, try learning more information about it by reading what others think and whether there is something you need to be aware of. This will help you avoid some of the sites that may try to take advantage of your personal information at a later stage.
Things to look for when deciding whether a site is worth it
In addition to the permission and learning more information about a given brand, there are also a couple of other things you can pay attention to that will allow you to choose a gambling site that is worth it. One of them is the company’s relationship with different casino software operators.
The fact that a given online casino or a website that also offers sports betting provides games from some of the world’s leading software companies is a big plus. Brands like Microgaming and NetEnt will not offer their services if they’re not sure that the website is legit.
Of course, having a fully-fledged mobile application is another thing that clients must pay attention to. The sites that will try to scam users and steal their money/personal information will usually not have a mobile app because developing such a thing is expensive and it takes more time.
It is also worth checking the experience of the given website and seeing when it started operating. Most old-school iGaming operators with interesting gambling services have been around long enough to prove themselves. Needless to say, using a company that just opened its doors is way risky than signing up with a gambling operator that has earned a solid reputation over the years.
Keep monitoring the situation closely
We are yet to see what will happen in the Philippines and whether there will be a ban on iGaming operators. If you reside there or in any other country, you have to be careful and only use legit gambling companies. This will save you from a lot of potential problems.
- B.E. Delmer, Gambling911.com
