The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) has taken down more than 53,000 illegal e-sabong (online cockfighting) sites, further intensifying the government’s campaign against illegal digital gambling.

The DICT-CICC’s takedown authority can remove any illegal URL immediately — once taken down, the site is gone forever.

Despite the 2022 ban on e-sabong due to its social and criminal impacts — gambling addiction, debt and related criminal cases — these illegal sites continued to operate, often through private social media groups and encrypted messaging apps.

A 2024 study by The Fourth Wall found major risks: underground e-sabong sites have no age verification, auditing or player protection compared to regulated outlets.

There are scary links to serious crimes: between 2021 and 2022, at least 34 sabungeros went missing in Luzon, suspected to be victims of kidnapping and murder by cockfighting syndicates. Authorities believe their bodies may have been dumped in Taal Lake.

Senator Erwin Tulfo has slammed the Philippine National Police (PNP) and National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) for being “inactionable” saying PAGCOR has already asked law enforcement to shut down illegal gambling portals.