Finance Secretary Ralph G. Recto said slapping the online gaming industry with a 10-percent tax could generate at least an additional ₱20 billion in revenues annually.

Recto told reporters during an informal press chat that taxing each gamer per bet is more challenging to implement.

He said it would be more practical to base taxes on gross gaming revenue (GGR)—the total amount that gambling operators earn after paying out winnings.

Recto said the current GGR is approximately ₱200 billion, with the government collecting 30 percent via the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor), five percent through the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), and three percent allocated for Pagcor’s auditing costs.

“So of the ₱200 billion, you’re collecting around 30 percent—₱60 billion. If we increase that by 10 percent, that’s ₱20 billion a year,” Recto told reporters.

Pagcor’s GGR on the e-games and e-bingo sector reached ₱51.39 billion in the first quarter. This sector accounted for 49.4 percent of the local gaming industry’s total of ₱104.12 billion during the period.

It can be noted that the e-games and e-bingo sector, for the first time, became the top contributor to the industry’s total revenues for the period.

Pagcor Chair and CEO Alejandro Tengco expects total gambling-related revenues to expand by 15 percent this year to between ₱450 billion and ₱480 billion, from the record GGR of ₱410.5 billion in 2024.

Meanwhile, Recto argued that banning online gambling entirely could push all operations underground, hurting government revenues.

He explained that around 60 percent of the market is already illegal, while the legal share has grown from a mere five percent to 40 percent.

“If you ban it, everything will become illegal. The government won’t be able to collect anything either,” Recto argued.

“There should probably also be a warning that gambling is habit-forming, similar to cigarette labels. I think we need to have a system in place, and part of the regulation should include something like that. Maybe we can use the national ID, as I’ve suggested before, so that a person’s age can be verified. If you’re below 21, you shouldn’t be allowed to play online games,” Recto said.

While Recto does support a total ban on online gambling, he believes stricter regulations and higher taxes are more effective ways to manage the industry.

He added that with these measures in place, gambling activity may decrease, while enforcement efforts from the police, cybersecurity agencies, Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), and National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) should intensify to target illegal sites.