A Philippine pol has warned that online cockfighting, known as e-sabong, is akin to “the young pandemic” in the country, The Manila Bulletin reports.

Former House Speaker Alan Saint Peter Cayetano made the comments at a press group discussion Monday. He pleaded with colleagues to turn away II applications for legislative franchises sought-after(a) by deuce e-sabong companies.

Cockfighting is ingrained inward Philippine culture and has been called the country’s national sport. Its account goes indorse many hundreds of years.

The online version, which enables users to bet on livestreamed bouts, has been around a decade. But it has exploded inwards popularity during the coronavirus pandemic at a time when the live edition has been prohibited for health and safety reasons.

Cockfighting is estimated to be a $1 one million million manufacture inwards the Philippines.

Taxing a Blood Sport

Feeling the financial impact from the pandemic and eager for new revenue streams, lawmakers passed a note in November 2020 to tax and regulate the blood sport.

Philippine nationals are prohibited from piquant inwards other forms of online gambling, although gambling regulator PAGCOR licenses operators that point customers inward other countries. E-sabong previously operated in a legally grayness area.

PAGCOR began issuing the foremost e-sabong licenses in May. Meanwhile, lawmakers get begun to honor legislative franchises, 25-year permits that include things the like off-site betting stations and unrecorded broadcasting.

Critics say this legislation is beingness fast-tracked with little thought to the societal dangers of proliferation.

There is a young pandemic that the government is not trying to stop,” Cayetano said. “On the contrary, it seems the regime is pushing this pandemic through PAGCOR, and i go for US Congress is non piece of it.

“Once we opened the door to online gambling, we cannot say that only e-sabong is allowed and say that e-casinos […] and sports betting are banned. This is where we are heading,” he warned.

Denounced past the Church

Two franchises hold already been approved. type A third, for manipulator Visayas Cockers Club Inc, is currently wending its path through the House.

While the legislative assembly is backup the rollout of franchises, Cayetano has the back up of the Catholic Church inwards the mostly Catholic country.

Last week, several upper-level members of the clergy, including Archbishop Romulo Valles of Davao, wheel spoke out against e-sabong. Bishop Alberto Uy of the Diocese of Tagbilaran said he was interested e-sabong would “wreck families, instigate crimes, and subvert society.”

Curiously, the ruthlessness of the athletics does non appear to live parting of the conversation inward the Philippines. The bouts affect the birds fighting to the dying with hooked razors committed to their talons. The animals are often injected with steroids to increment their fighting potential.