(Bloomberg) — The Philippine central bank has ordered mobile wallets, payment applications and other supervised institutions to remove links to online gambling platforms. <\/p>\n
The financial firms have 48 hours to take down icons redirecting to Internet betting, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Deputy Governor Mamerto Tangonan said at a Senate hearing on Thursday, citing a decision from the central bank\u2019s policy-making Monetary Board. <\/p>\n
Senators are tackling proposals to either restrict or ban online gambling amid concerns over debt and addiction. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. earlier said a ban could stoke illegal online betting.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
E-wallets like GCash, owned by fintech unicorn Mynt and valued at $5 billion, have been instrumental in online gambling\u2019s growth, and legislators are trying to rein in the industry, which has flourished in recent years.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
On Thursday, Philippine online gaming leader DigiPlus Interactive Corp. said its profit jumped 30% to 4.2 billion pesos ($74 million) in the second quarter on new products. That brought first-half net income to 8.4 billion pesos, up 61% from a year ago, with revenue rising 47%. <\/p>\n
The company\u2019s performance reflects continued growth in its retail games segment, as well as contributions from new games and licenses, DigiPlus said. <\/p>\n
DigiPlus was the world\u2019s best performing gaming stock in June before tighter regulations dampened investor sentiment, trimming its year-to-date gain to 6.6% as of Thursday. <\/p>\n
DigiPlus, which is set to replace Bloomberry Resorts Corp. in the Philippines\u2019 benchmark stock index from next week, said the company remains committed to responsible business practices. <\/p>\n
–With assistance from Neil Jerome Morales. <\/p>\n