Private gambling operators would face enforceable restrictions on how they market their services under a measure now before the Senate, as lawmakers move to rein in an activity that has spread rapidly across Filipino households.
Sen. Francis Escudero authored Senate Bill 2347, a proposal designed to draw firm legal boundaries around the promotion of betting platforms. He argued that the reach of online gaming has grown to the point where both adults and children can access it with little effort.
“That’s the logic behind our proposed legislation: don’t make it too easy. How can we make this more difficult so that people can’t just play game so easily?” Escudero said during his “Chiz Wiz! Usapang May Laman” podcast released Sunday.
Central to his reasoning is the belief that self-imposed industry rules cannot do the job alone. He noted that the Ad Standards Council had already asked its members to strip gambling imagery and paraphernalia from every media channel, but those directives remained voluntary and carried no legal weight.
For that reason, the senator said a statutory ban was necessary. His bill would prohibit gambling sponsorships and advertisements on television, radio, print, online outlets, and social media, a step he described as the “first step in a broader effort to reduce gambling-related harm.”
The senator framed the advertising provision as the mechanism through which the state could actually hold companies accountable. “What the law needs is a provision on advertising, because you need to regulate the private companies here,” he said.
