Philippine city blocks online gambling sites on government networks

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The Cebu City government enforces workplace internet restrictions.

Beginning in March 2025, the Filipino government enacted a comprehensive ban on Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO) and dismantled their traditional offline gambling operations. Now, only a few months have passed, and a city within the Philippines has passed a resolution to prevent gambling websites from accessing the government’s network.

The Cebu city government enforces workplace internet restrictions

As a gamer, I’d put it like this: “In an effort to minimize distractions in the workplace, our city government in Cebu is going to set some rules regarding online gaming and VPN usage across all local networks. Councilor Nyza ‘Nice’ Archival was the one who came up with the initial idea for this, which was approved during the 17th Sangguniang Panlungsod regular event on July 22, 2025.

The resolution expresses increasing worry about the abuse of government-issued internet services for accessing gambling websites and apps. This could potentially result in problems like addiction, financial trouble, moral decline, and reduced efficiency.

To clarify earlier, not only is the Philippine government preventing local internet connections from accessing online gambling websites, but they are also prohibiting Virtual Private Network (VPN) services. This means that individuals would find it difficult to locate loopholes and gain access to such gambling content.

Counselor Archival proposed that imposing VPN restrictions would bolster enforcement efforts, since it might enable users to circumvent limitations on gambling sites and gain access to them freely.

In more recent developments, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) has debuted the PAGCOR Guarantee portal. This platform offers players a straightforward way to access a roster of legitimate and licensed online gaming operators that have been verified by PAGCOR. Additionally, as an incentive for unlicensed operators, PAGCOR has lowered their GGR tax from 35% to 30%.

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2025-07-23 20:43