TLDR PAGCOR plans to launch an app this year to help players spot licensed gaming sites. The app aims to fight illegal online gambling and protect players. About half of online gaming sites used in the Philippines are unlicensed, PAGCOR says. The tool builds on PAGCOR Guarantee, a website launched in 2025 for the same purpose. PAGCOR is working with other agencies to target illegal operators and their payment channels.
The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation is planning to launch a new app this year. The tool will help online gaming players tell licensed platforms apart from unlicensed ones.
PAGCOR shared the plan through its chairman and CEO, Alejandro Tengco. He announced the app while testifying before the House Committee on Appropriations during a budget hearing.
Tengco said the app has two main goals. It should reduce illegal online gambling and steer players toward platforms that PAGCOR regulates.
Illegal Gaming Sites Remain A Problem
Tengco told lawmakers that about half of the online gaming sites accessed in the Philippines are illegal. That makes it hard for regulators and law enforcement to keep players inside the legal market.
The new app is meant to make checking a site’s status simple. Players would open the app to see if a platform holds a PAGCOR license before they play.
PAGCOR said the tool fits with earlier steps it has taken to separate legal sites from illegal ones. Those steps go back to last year.
In 2025, PAGCOR launched PAGCOR Guarantee, a website that lets players check if a gaming site is licensed. The new app would give players another way to do the same check.
PAGCOR has not released details about how the app will look or work. It has not said which phone systems will support it either.
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