Philippines bans online casinos linked to illicit activities

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr has ordered the shutdown of a sprawling network of online casinos that have been linked to a slew of criminal activities.

Known locally as Pogos, short for Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators, these online casinos largely cater to players in mainland China, where gambling is illegal.

But they have also increasingly been found to have been used as a cover for illicit activities, from telephone scams to human trafficking.

They flourished under Mr Marcos' predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, who pushed for friendly ties with China during his term.

In his annual address to parliament on Monday, Mr Marcos called for the «desecration of our country [to] stop».

«Disguising as legitimate entities, their operations have ventured into illicit areas furthest from gaming such as financial scamming, money laundering, prostitution, human trafficking, kidnapping, brutal torture, even murder,» he said.

On Tuesday, the Philippines' gaming regulator said it would cancel the licenses of Pogos and wind down the sector by the end of the year.

The Pogo industry is made up of over 400 licensed and unlicensed outfits, employing 40,000 people directly and indirectly, according to government estimates.

The industry brings in an estimated 166.5bn pesos ($2.9bn; £2.2bn) of revenue a year, factoring in tax and gaming revenues — lower than its estimated economic costs of 266bn pesos annually.

The BBC has reached out businesses and employees connected to Pogos, but they have declined to comment.

The alleged link between Pogos and criminal rings came under national spotlight recently after a Pogo in a small town was found to have been a front for a scam centre.

The mayor of the town, Alice Guo, is accused of being a spy for China and is currently believed to be in hiding.

Pogos have also been linked to clandestine hospitals, with authorities saying such hospitals were offering their services to those working in such online casinos, offering plastic surgery services to fugitives and scam centre workers to help them evade arrest.

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