‘E-sabong operations have evolved’ (Latest Sabong News)
Author
Emmanuel Tupas
Date
APRIL 09 2023
MANILA, Philippines — Identifying and arresting people behind online cockfighting operations have been difficult for police units as those behind e-sabong have evolved and learned how to avoid getting detected by government authorities, a source said yesterday.
Data from the police Anti-Cybercrime Group (ACG) showed that 119 e-sabong websites were blocked while 50 other sites were found to be inactive since September 2022.
The ACG said 50 Facebook pages showing online cockfighting games were already deleted.
But what is missing is there have been no e-sabong operators and their cohorts have been arrested since last year.
The reason is those behind the illegal form of gambling have put in place measures to avoid being detected by authorities, according to a security official.
“Medyo mahirap na ngayon kasi closed group na sila (It’s more difficult because they are now a closed group),” the official, who is directly involved in operations against e-sabong, said in an interview.
The security official, who spoke on condition he is not named, said e-sabong operators, also known as master agents, are no longer streaming their games to a larger audience – only to only groups of gamblers who are screened before they are allowed access to their websites.
“Hindi na siya available sa public. Nakikita mo minsan may viewing pero parang advertisement lang (They are no longer available to the public. You see they can be viewed, but just as advertisements),” the source said, referring to links appearing on social media platforms.
Another problem is that the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) is slow to act on requests for deactivation of e-sabong websites from law enforcement agencies, the official said.
The source said it takes more than a week for the NTC to deactivate an e-sabong website. By that time, those behind the scheme have opened another site on the internet for their operations.
And with just spending $5 to buy an internet domain, e-sabong operatorscan easily recoup their losses through their games.
As e-sabong could no longer be regulated, the official said it is better if the government would just regulate online cockfighting and get revenues from it.
Instead of 24 hours, the source said the government can allow e-sabong operators to run their business from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
“Jueteng nga hindi nila kayang pigilin (They can’t even stop jueteng),” the source said.
