Laws in the Philipines: 2

Online casinos are not considered legal in the Philippines. They're been several times by community and government leaders to put an end to Internet gambling despite its huge popularity. In an attempt to do so, the Philippine government opened up a similar game called “Small Town Lottery”. In the 1980s they also had another attempt opened up by the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office which had a small following, but nothing compared to the popularity of Jueteng. Meridien Vista Gaming Corporation was a Spanish owned company that was accused of copying the Philippine Charity’s game but they maintained that their game was not small town lottery.

The government has been doing everything they can to control the illegal online casino operations currently running in its country. One gambling company is in the process of being investigated is the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority. They have been accused of collecting bets in the Philippines for profit without having any sort of permission to do so. The company has not received permission to operate in the Philippines one of the board members, Patricio Dumlao Jr. made that perfectly clear. The representatives of Meridien did not deny the statements from the board but repeated their stance and said that they were not operating small town lottery. Bishop Ramon Villena announced his dislike and disapproval for the new game by saying that it is just like any game scene at online casinos with the new shiny package. We will have to wait and see exactly what happens with the Philippine government in their final decisions regarding the fate of Meridien.