Mayor Sebastian Duterte wants ban on online gambling ads in Davao City

Davao City mayor Sebastian Duterte wants to ban online gambling ads in the city, citing its “detrimental” effect on the city’s population.

During an episode of the Duterte-hosted “Basta Dabawenyo” podcast last October 20, 2024, the mayor said this to address concerns raised by a councilor on the spread of large online gambling billboards across the city.

For Duterte, promoting online gambling should be limited, although he said he was not against operators existing.

“That’s okay. There’s no issue with the fact that it exists. What we’re talking about here is the extent of how it’s being promoted,” Mayor Duterte said in Bisaya, translated to English by Sunstar.

READ: PAGCOR Opposes Bills Banning Online Gambling, Cites P40 Billion Loss

Mayor Duterte believes that online gambling sites are designed for operators to profit.

“These types of gambling are run by businesspeople. They wouldn’t be called businesspeople if they were losing money. In gambling, you’ll never see the one running the game lose. So eventually, if you’re there playing their game, it’s designed and created for them to profit, not to give you money. It’s all about luck,” he said.

He compared this to how cigarette advertising is regulated. Davao City has been at the forefront of regulating cigarettes on a local government scale, boasting one of the most strict policies, which has been replicated at the national level when Mayor Duterte’s father, Rodrigo Duterte, was elected president in 2016.

This comes as gambling ads started sprawling across the Philippines, and with uncovered stories and reports of Filipinos experiencing gambling addiction.

In March 2024, Senator Robin Padilla filed a bill wanting to curb the publication of online content that promotes gambling.

Read related article: PH senator wants to ban gambling-related online content