In the Philippines, rising concerns over gambling addiction could result in The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas eyeing stricter guidelines on online gambling payment services, which may include e-wallets.

Following a draft circular order, which is subject to change, the central bank said it wants to promote “responsible use of digital financial services, strengthen consumer protection, uphold financial health, and mitigate the social and financial risks associated with online gambling.”

As a result, the mandate states that those who will use online gambling payment services to create an Online Gambling Transaction Account (OGTA) and there are other provisions to take note of.

Those include: users should be 21 years old and above, must not be studying in any school, must not be a government official, must not be a member of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and Philippine National Police, and must not be a beneficiary of the conditional cash transfer program known as 4PS.

This comes after a tense period of comments from multiple areas of society who have condemned the rise of problem gambling and gambling advertisements.

The government have spoken out against it, the Catholic Popes as well as the FinTech Alliance – we’ve also seen the Philippine gaming regulator order billboard ads to be taken down as gambling restrictions tighten.

Stricter regulation is on the horizon and e-wallets look to be a key focus in the future, hoping to make it more difficult for those to open accounts and begin gambling online.

Funding of an online account will only be confirmed through on-us transfers from the eligible account owner. The payment service provider (PSP) shall only allow one account per eligible user, according to the new ruling.

There are said to be more gambling addiction measures coming into play including users can only transfer funds to the OGTA subject to a daily limit of 20 percent of the average daily balance and there must only be a six-hour transaction period or less per day.

Plus, If heavy use is detected, a 24-hour cooling off period is set. Lending options meanwhile, in the same platform will be disabled once OGTA is created.

There could even be monetary penalties for anyone going over limits and the focus of the BSP is to ensure that digital payment services will not be misused for activities that are socially harmful and detrimental to financial health.