Not recognised as a public health issue<\/p>\n
Gambling addiction is not yet officially recognised as a public health issue in the Philippines.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Now experts point to a growing crisis, as online gambling addiction has emerged as a \u201cmental health crisis\u201d.<\/p>\n
Dr. Paolo Woodruff Gonzales, psychiatrist at the Institute of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine, Southern Philippine Medical Center (IPBM-SPMC) and director for Mindanao of the Philippine Psychiatrists Association, says the impact is severe.<\/p>\n
He recently treated a patient with \u20b1200,000 in gambling debts who had developed suicidal thoughts. <\/p>\n
Easy access to betting platforms and loan sharks worsens the situation.<\/p>\n
Mark, a 38-year-old finance executive, spiraled into addiction during the 2020 pandemic, losing over \u20b120 million through loans from banks, credit cards, and loan sharks.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He wagered up to \u20b1200,000 daily on online casinos, straining his marriage and leaving him with \u20b15 million in debts.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Similarly, a young man in Bukidnon driven by debts from playing \u201cscatter\u201d games, tragically took his own life, leaving his family in grief. <\/p>\n
During a Senate inquiry, the mother told lawmakers how e-gambling addiction led to the death of her 26-year-old son, who killed himself by hanging. <\/p>\n
These stories underscore the personal wreckage left by an industry that preys on vulnerability.<\/p>\n
Central bank tightens rules as depression spikes<\/p>\n
The incidence of depression is also increasing in the country. The current correlational analysis evaluated the association between online game addiction and depression in Filipino adolescents.<\/p>\n
Since August, online gaming transactions in the Philippines have taken a nosedive \u2014 down by as much as 50% \u2014 thanks to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) ordering e-wallet companies to cut all links to online gambling sites, according to Pagcor. <\/p>\n
But don\u2019t celebrate just yet. <\/p>\n
Pagcor Chair Alejandro Tengco shared that a twist in this tale is the rise of users flocking to \u201cillegal\u201d gaming sites, operating under the radar.<\/p>\n
BSP released an order August 14, signed by Deputy Governor Mamerto Tangonan, demanding e-wallets, banks, and other financial services to ditch all in-app gambling features. <\/p>\n
Tengco told Rep. Chel Diokno in a House hearing, \u201cIt\u2019s really hard to go after them,\u201d referring to these illegal operators. <\/p>\n
Because about 60% of online gaming \u201chappens\u201d on foreign soil \u2014 in countries like Russia and Cambodia \u2014 where Philippine authorities struggle to reach. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Not recognised as a public health issue Gambling addiction is not yet officially recognised as a public health…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":147054,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[49,48,84,393,394],"class_list":{"0":"post-147053","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-mental-health","12":"tag-mentalhealth"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147053","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147053"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147053\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/147054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}