Families can get their kin, who are addicted to online gambling such as scatter, banned from playing through the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor).

Palace Press Officer and Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro said they can lodge a report to the Pagcor if they wish to ban their family member from playing scatter.

“Kung ang pamilya man ay nagkaka-problema sa kanilang kamag-anak dahil nagugumon sa sugal maari po sila agad pumunta sa PAGCOR para po ma-banned ang tao na ito sa paglalaro (If a family has a problem with a relative who is addicted to gambling, they can immediately go to Pagcor to request that the person be banned from playing),” Castro said.

She added that the Pagcor will respond to such report promptly.

While scatter cannot be banned as it is offered by licensed gaming websites, Castro said Pagcor and the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) will not stop taking illegal sites down, even though it’s a repetitive cycle because these operators just keep changing their websites.

According to AVP of the Electronic Gaming Licensing Department,  scatter is offered through a licensed site and it is being controlled and monitored.

Castro also said that the government's current problem is the proliferation of illegal gaming websites, adding that they have already shut down around 7,000 websites.

“So, ang tangi lamang po nating gagawin ay laging patanggal, ipasara through the DICT itong mga illegal website na ito. So, iyon po iyong nagiging problema nito, pero hindi nga po ito titigilan, kahit paulit-ulit silang pumapasok iyong website nila at naa-access ng mga kababayan natin, paulit-ulit din po silang tatanggalin (The only thing we can do is to constantly request takedowns through the DICT. That’s the core of the problem. But even though these websites keep resurfacing and are accessed by our people, we will keep shutting them down again and again),” Castro said.

“Pero, ang pakiusap ko sa ating mga kababayan at sa mga pamilya, kung ang inyong mga kamag-anak naman po ay nagugumon na sugal ipag-alam lamang po ninyo sa Pagcor at mabilis po itong aaksyunan (But I appeal to our fellow citizens and families: if your relatives are already addicted to gambling, report them to Pagcor immediately, and they will act on it quickly),” Castro added.