President Marcos said he is planning to convene a conference of all stakeholders, including religious groups and parents, in an attempt to come up with solutions to the looming online gambling addiction among Filipinos.

Marcos bared this in a recent episode of his podcast on Thursday, Aug. 7, where he was asked about one of the most anticipated, but left out, topics in his fourth State of the Nation Address (SONA)—online gambling.

The reason why it was not mentioned in his speech, Marcos said, was because they have yet to form a policy to address it amid growing calls for him to ban it, a move similar to the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO) ban last year.

"Because we had not – we still have to form the policy on what we are going to do about online gambling," he said.

"And to this end, I have already started to organize a – shall we – to convene a conference of those who are – all the stakeholders," he added.

He said members from Catholics Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) and parents will be part of the conference, stressing that he will be including parents as the youth appears to be the "victimized demographic."

They will also need to determine who will be regulating the operations of online gambling, if they were to regulate.

"[W]e have to talk to the people who will – if – kung magre-regulate tayo (if we are going to regulate), who will be doing the regulation?," Marcos said.

"The first effect of banning it fully is to pull it – put it underground, and then we have no control. ‘Yan talagang wala na tayong regulation (That’s really something we no longer have regulation over)," Marcos added.

The President pointed out that the case with online gambling is unlike the operations of POGO, where several criminal activities, such as human trafficking, credit card scam, prostitution, money laundering, kidnapping, brutal torture, and even murder, happened.

"Yun ang naging problema (That was the problem), the illegal part of it, which… I’m glad you asked that question because it brings us to the same – the same situation with online gambling in general. Because we have in – with online gambling in general, what is the problem we are trying to solve?," Marcos said.

"We're trying to solve is that na hindi – yun na nga, hindi malubog sa utang ang mga – yung mga hindi naman – wala namang kaya pero napapasubo dahil sa sugal. Mga bata na natututong magsugal. Let’s focus on that. Paano natin patitigilin ‘yan (What we're trying to solve is that – exactly, that people don't end up drowning in debt – those who can't really afford it but get dragged into gambling. Kids who are learning to gamble. Let’s focus on that. How do we stop it?," he stressed.

Marcos said these are aspects of online gambling that must be examined, adding that "we will come up with a plan to make sure that we address the problem."

"The problem is not online gambling. The problem[s] are the social effects on our children and those who are addicted to gambling," he said.