President Duterte’s order to stop the operations of ‘online sabong’ will have no significant impact on the financials of GCash and Maya.
GCASH and MAYA — President Rodrigo Duterte’s order to stop the operations of ‘online sabong’ will have no significant impact on the financials of major digital wallets.
On Friday, GCash President and CEO Martha Sazon said at a virtual press briefing that the order to stop ‘online sabong’ or ‘e-sabong’ “doesn’t have a significant contribution in our transaction volume”.
Sazon said that their revenue and profit trajectory is “really doing well, very positive“, adding that they expect to end the year at even better levels than last year.
READ ALSO: GCash Blocks 900,000 Accounts Involved In Fraudulent Activities In First Quarter
Maya President Shailesh Baidwan, for his part, also said the order has “no impact” on the financial technology (fintech) company’s performance.
“For the first quarter, less than 0.5% of our flow-through GTV (gross transaction value) as we call it came from there. There is no impact really on our revenue or our business,” Baidwan said in a briefing on Thursday.
In a pre-recorded “Talk to the People” public briefing aired Tuesday morning, the President announced that he approved the Department of the Interior and Local Government’s (DILG) recommendation to stop ‘online sabong’ or online cockfighting operations.
The President’s decision came following a survey conducted by the DILG in cities and provinces regarding ‘online sabong’ operations, which are being blamed for the deterioration of moral values among many Filipinos.
As to the foregone government revenues from e-sabong, Presidential Communications Secretary and acting Presidential Spokesperson Andanar said, “tiwala kami sa kakayahan ng PAGCOR to generate new revenues.”
Government revenue from ‘online sabong’ operations hit PHP 2 billion this year alone, according to the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation or PAGCOR.
“The Executive Secretary will issue a formal memorandum to this effect and we will serve the appropriate notice to the PAGCOR regulated e-sabong operators,” PAGCOR chairperson Andrea Domingo said.
Thank you for visiting Newspapers.ph. You may express your reactions or thoughts in the comments section. Also, you may follow us on Facebook as well.
