ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Business devider Trade & Industry devider S&P flags Philippine online gaming slowdown amid tighter rules

S&P flags Philippine online gaming slowdown amid tighter rules

Published Jul 29, 2026 02:15 pm

While the Philippines has high acceptance of online gaming, S&P Global has flagged the looming contraction in the industry’s gross gaming revenue (GGR) in 2026, due in part to the regulatory squeeze, including the ban on e-gaming linkages with e-wallets.

According to the global debt watcher’s growth forecasts for Asia-Pacific (APAC) gaming markets, the Philippine gaming industry’s revenues are expected to shrink by seven percent in 2026, from actual growth of six percent in 2025.

By comparison, the country’s regional peers are projected to post positive year-on-year growth, including Malaysia (four percent from two percent), Cambodia (five percent from 27 percent), and Singapore (seven percent from 27 percent).

In 2025, the Philippine gaming industry’s GGR climbed to nearly ₱400 billion, as the surge in digital betting platforms more than offset the contraction in traditional brick-and-mortar casinos.

This increased by 6.4 percent from ₱372.3 billion in 2024, according to state-run Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor).

As of the first quarter of 2026, the country’s GGR fell to ₱87.6 billion from ₱104.1 billion in the same period last year, driven by the sharp contraction in electronic gaming as inflationary spillovers from conflicts in the Middle East eroded local consumer discretionary spending.

Pagcor Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Alejandro H. Tengco holds a downbeat outlook for the second quarter, pointing to the lack of foreign tourists entering the Philippines. “There are no tourists. There are no VIP players because of the war,” he said.

“The online gaming sector was hit because users from income classes C and D are the groups most affected by the Middle East crisis,” he added.

After the decline, however, S&P projected the domestic industry to recover modestly by two percent in 2027, still slower than its peers’ anticipated performance.

S&P noted that the Philippines has its arms wide open to the online gaming sector.

“Most countries in the region have limited acceptance of online gaming, or iGaming, encompassing online casino games, poker, and sports betting,” S&P reported, but this trend excludes the Philippines and New Zealand, implying high acceptance of such platforms.

“There has been rapid growth in online gambling gross gaming revenue in the Philippines. However, it recently slowed due to a clampdown on e-wallet linkages,” S&P said.

Recall that the domestic online gaming sector expanded twenty-fold between 2022 and 2025, a trend that sparked concerns over its social costs as many Filipinos became vulnerable to gambling addiction.

This sentiment prompted the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to order e-wallet giants to delink in-app links to gaming platforms.

“Such shifts can cause severe revenue erosion, as seen with the dominant operator Digiplus Interactive Corp.,” S&P noted.

Related Tags

online gambling S&P Global Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR)
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ static_articles_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.