SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) has arrested 12 people on suspicion of illegal online gaming operations.
With the conclusion of a month-long investigation, PAGCOR Chairman and CEO, Alejandro H. Tengco, announced that the suspects were apprehended in Parañaque City with the help of the National Capital Region Police Office and the cybercrime unit of the Philippine National Police.
“The raiders were armed with a warrant to search, seize and examine operations of computer data against the suspects who were caught red-handed while operating the illegal online gaming platform tbb888.com or the ‘Big Bet’,” Tengco added.
A total of 11 computers, 21 mobile phones, two iPads, six laptops, and flash drives were seized by authorities from a site that suspects were allegedly using to run their illegal gambling operations, including slot machines, live casino, and esports betting.
Raul Villanueva, PAGCOR Senior Vice President for Security and Monitoring Cluster, added: “The operation was part of our unified efforts to intensify the fight against illegal online gambling because we have a marching order from PAGCOR Chairman Alejandro Tengco to put a stop to these illegal activities.”
The case will be handed over to the Parañaque Regional Trial Court.
Recent measures taken against organised crime groups dealing with illegal gambling in the Philippines have been commended by Jeremy Douglas, the Regional Representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
In the organisation’s latest report on Asia’s crime syndicates, Douglas said: “Operations against syndicates in countries including Cambodia and the Philippines have caused a partial displacement, and we have seen criminals moving infrastructure into other places where they see opportunity — basically where they expect they will be able to take advantage and not be held to account, to remote and border areas of the Mekong, and recently elsewhere.”
