ONLINE gaming giant DigiPlus Interactive never thought its share prices at the stock market would plummet, when some lawmakers have filed separate bills that seek to either prohibit, or regulate online gaming. At least two senators have filed separate bills that seek outright total ban on online gaming and gambling, citing their ill effects to society, especially the youth.Digiplus Interactive operates three gaming platforms – GameZone, BingoPlus, and ArenaPlus. Its gaining business is widely regarded as lucrative, earning billions of pesos in revenues and making the firm the darling in the local stock market because of the continued rise of its share prices. Billionaire Eusebio Tanco is reputed to be its majority owner. Tanco has interest in shipping and logistics (Asian Terminals Inc.), education (STI Education System Holdings), insurance (Philippine First Insurance), stock brokerage (Venture Securities), preneed plans (PhilPlans), health care (PhilCare), and real estate.
The decline of its share prices could be attributed to DigiPlus Interactive’s negative reputation of its online gaming platform – ArenaPlus. Among online gaming industry players, Digiplus is said to have gained notoriety for nonpayment of winners of its online games. The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor), the state regulator of online gaming because it issues gaming licenses, was said to have been powerless and weak to enforce its own rules on Digiplus Interactive. Is it a victim of regulatory capture? This is the question.
Pagcor insiders said Digiplus Interactive has at least 16 complaints from online game winners, who claimed their prizes were not given by the firm. The claims ranged from a few millions of pesos to multibillion peso claims, the highest of which could reach P493.6 million. Pagcor has been officially oblivious and clueless to these complaints. Pagcor chair and chief executive officer Alejandro Tengco has yet to address the lingering issue of DigiPlus Interactive’s refusal to pay its online gaming winners.
Lawyer Raenan Malig, who does his practice in Angeles City, said his client, whom he did not name for security reasons, said his client won P493,566,074.01 after he spun the Lucky Spin feature and landed on the Ultimate Jackpot in the ArenaPlus platform. According to him, his client regularly participated in online games like baccarat and color games and frequently engaged in the Lucky Spin feature.
On March 26 this year at approximately 12:12 pm, his client played the Lucky Spin and won the Ultimate Jackpot of P493.6 million. He immediately took a screenshot of the winning result, but he did not see the prize reflected in his account balance, prompting him to lodge a complaint in DigiPlus Interactive customer support service. According to Malig, his client talked to an agent named Dulce.
Customer support requested a screenshot of the game summary, but this supposedly did not register the win despite the screenshot of his client, showing the jackpot win. After the interaction , the chat record was surreptitiously deleted from the system and his client could not retrieve the conversation, Malig said.
Malig said he submitted on March 31 a letter dated March 27 to Pagcor, requesting action on the noncredit of his jackpot prize. Pagcor confirmed receipt of the latter and forwarded it to the Electronic Games and Licensing Department and Security Group. An additional email from Pagcor indicated they were coordinating with DigiPlus Interactive on the issue, Malig said.
Subsequent communications came from ArenaPlus, Malig said. On April 8 at 10:01 am, Malig said his client received an email from ArenaPlus thanking him for reaching out to them despite the fact that he never did so. On the same day at around 2:34 pm, ArenaPlus sent a second email to his client “vagulely addressing certain issues in an attempt to brush aside his claim, without addressing the existence of screenshot showing [my client’s] spin landing on the Ultimate Jackpot in the amount of P493,566,074.01.”
“On April 10, 2025, [Atty. Raenan Malig] received from Pagcor through email what appears to be a form letter: ‘in relation to the formal complaint regarding the noncredit of the winnings on ArenaPlus of [my client], stating that ArenaPlus ‘will issue an official statement regarding issues and concerns of the Lucky Spin feature,’ and that ‘a face-to-face coordination meeting will be scheduled if it will be deemed necessary, both of which never happened as far as [my client] is aware of.”
Malig claimed his client noticed that ArenaPlus removed the Lucky Spin feature on the Ultimate Jackpot on its gaming platform. This prompted Malig to write Pagcor a second letter on April 14 asking Pagcor to provide an up-to-date on the developments and repeated his earlier request for Pagcor to conduct a no-nonsense, full scale, and immediate investigation into the incident. Malig also mentioned his client’s request for Pagcor to undertake a fair and objective review and audit of the logs and system of ArenaPlus to determine the veracity of his claim that he won the Ultimate Jackpot on March 27, 2025, which amounted to P493,566,074.01.
If it is in the affirmative, Malig said his client requested Pagcor to compel ArenaPlus to pay or credit his client the prize he won. Malig also said his client also formally requested Pagcor for the names and full details of the company and individual owners and corporate officers, who operate and manage ArenaPlus and its principal place of business for him to know against them if he takes legal actions.
Malig said Pagcor has utterly failed to act in a significant manner to probe the matter. Malig sent two formal demand letters asking Pagcor to immediately investigate the matter and audit the logs and computer systems of ArenaPlus to determine the veracity of his client’ complaint that ArenaPlus is refusing to pay his client the price he won. Apparently, no investigation has been done by Pagcor, Malig said.
“It seems that ArenaPlus is determined to simply ignore [my client’s] claim while Pagcor, which is supposed to be the regulator here, being the issuers= of the gaming franchise of ArenaPlus, refuses to lift a finger to protect the gaming public from this dubious action of ArenaPlus of refusing to pay the prize it promised,” Malig said.
Press reports said that aside from the bills on the regulatory aspects of online gaming, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP spoke last week of tightening the regulations on e-wallets and fintech firms like G-Cash and Maya that provide access to online games. The BSP also plans to issue a circular implementing safeguards against the risks associated with online gaming. These were factors that contributed to DigiPlus Interactive’s share prices.
