MALAYBALAY CITY (BukidnonNews.net/14 August 2025)—The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas has ordered e-wallet operators such as GCash and Maya to remove links to online gambling sites, today, August 14.
This was announced during today’s Senate Public Hearing on the several bills filed that will either ban or regulate online gambling.
BSP Deputy Governor Mamerto Tangonan said the central bank has given banks and e-wallet operators 48 hours to take down in-app links or icons.
It can be recalled that last month, all five of Bukidnon’s district and partylist representatives filed a house bill to do the same, alongside stricter regulations.
Atty. Jonathan Keith Flores, representative of the 2nd district, said the easy access had led to several cases of addiction and great financial loss, especially among daily wage earners.
In the Senate, Juan Miguel Zubiri took a more severe approach in his bill that would totally ban online gambling, in response to its rising social costs.
Both e-wallet giant GCash, with 94 million users, and digital lender Maya, with 5 million, have committed to comply with the BSP directive.
