House approves bill banning Pogos on 3rd reading

ABANDONED Members of a government team led by the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission find abandoned workstations during a raid on a suspected Philippine offshore gaming operator hub in a building on Ayala Avenue in Makati City on March 6, 2025. — Photo from PAOCC

MANILA, Philippines — A proposal seeking to formally ban the conduct and betting for offshore gaming operations in the country has been approved by the House of Representatives on third and final reading.

During the House’s plenary session on Tuesday, House Bill (HB) No. 10987 was approved after 172 members voted in the affirmative, one in the negative, and zero abstentions.

If enacted, HB No. 10987 will deem the following activities illegal:

• facilitating offshore gaming through any means or device
• accepting any form of betting for offshore gaming operations
• operating as a service provider of any component of offshore gaming operations
• constructing or maintaining any operation hub or a structural complex that houses the operations, and logistical, administrative and support services for offshore gaming
• establishing any gaming laboratory or providing services as a gaming laboratory
• possessing any offshore gaming paraphernalia
• aiding, protecting or abetting the conduct of any of the above-mentioned acts

The same bill was approved on second reading last February 3, or days before Congress adjourned its session for the election break. Two months prior to the second reading approval, the House committee on games and amusements gave the nod to the committee report.

READ: House panel OKs bill banning Pogos, imposing strict penalties 

The bill is in line with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s directive to ban all Philippine offshore gaming operators (Pogos) due to the social costs that the games bring.

Marcos made the announcement during his third State of the Nation Address last July 2024, which key lawmakers including Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez himself supported.

Illegal activities linked to Pogos was also one of the topics investigated by the House’s quad committee, along with extrajudicial killings in the past administration’s drug war, and the illicit drug trade.

Over the past few years, several Pogo hubs — like the one in Porac, Pampanga, and Bamban, Tarlac — were raided due to reports of kidnapping, illegal detention, human trafficking, prostitution, and even arbitrary killing.

There were also theories that money from Pogos and some lottery games were used to give rewards to police officers who would kill drug suspects.  Furthermore, there have been concerns about Pogos being used to compromise the Philippines’ national security.

READ: Espenido told: Pogo money used to reward anti-drug units 

The Senate, meanwhile, approved its version of the bill on Monday after 23 senators voted in favor of the bill, with zero negative votes and abstentions. /das