In a major crackdown on unlicensed online gaming businesses, the Philippines government on Tuesday announced that it will shut more than 175 gambling dens and deport about 40,000 Chinese workers. 

“The crackdown was triggered by reports of murder, kidnapping and other crimes committed by Chinese nationals against fellow Chinese nationals,” said justice ministry spokesperson Jose Dominic Clavano. 

The ministry said the measure was aimed at sending a strong message after the crime rate skyrocketed across the country. “This is really our job to society and to make sure that these crimes are not committed. We thought it best to send a signal that this type of behaviour is not tolerable, it’s not acceptable to the country.” 

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The Philippine offshore gaming operators or POGOs had mushroomed in the country after 2016 when President Rodrigo Duterte started to pursue a closer relationship with China. The gambling industry peaked around 2020 when it raked in approximately $122 million and employed nearly 300,000 Chinese workers. 

However, the meteoric rise of POGO’s also led to an increase in crimes as individuals, mostly Chinese engaged in kidnapping, prostitution and murder, according to the ministry. 

The regulators informed that only 30 POGO’s had licenses to run operations in the country while the rest were either running on expired or revoked licenses. 

The Chinese embassy in a statement batted for the move and added POGO’s were hurting the relationship between the two countries, “Crimes induced by and associated with online gambling not only harm China’s interests and China-Philippines relations, but also hurt the interests of the Philippines.”

Gambling is strictly banned in mainland China and since last year, the Xi Jinping regime has enforced gaming laws as well, restricting the gaming time of kids and teenagers. 

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(With inputs from agencies)

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