PAGCOR Calls for Gaming Rules to Keep Pace With AI

PAGCOR highlights AI challenges for gaming regulation

The issue was raised by Atty. Jessa Mariz Fernandez, Assistant Vice President of PAGCOR’s Electronic Gaming Licensing Department, during her keynote speech at the CiG iDEA Summit at the Hilton Manila Ballroom at Newport World Resorts in Pasay City.

Fernandez said the increasing adoption of AI creates both opportunities and risks for gaming regulators. While artificial intelligence can support regulatory processes, the same technology can also make illegal or fraudulent activity more difficult to identify.

“The same technology that can help us detect fraud, identify unusual activity, improve compliance, and make regulatory processes more efficient can also be used to make fraud more sophisticated and harder to detect,” Fernandez said.

She stressed that the response should not be to restrict technological development, but to ensure that gambling regulation keeps pace with innovation.

“The challenge, therefore, is not to resist technology. It is to ensure that our regulatory frameworks evolve alongside it,” she said.

Regulators face increasingly complex risks

Against the backdrop of rapid technological change, PAGCOR continues to review its policies, consult legitimate gaming industry stakeholders and strengthen coordination with other government agencies.

According to Fernandez, the regulator remains open to new approaches that could make its regulatory framework more effective and responsive to increasingly complex risks affecting the gaming sector.

“We cannot regulate tomorrow’s technology using only yesterday’s assumptions,” the PAGCOR official said.

The statement reflects a growing regulatory challenge for online gaming markets, where artificial intelligence, new technologies and emerging business models can develop faster than existing regulatory frameworks.

Online gaming regulation must balance innovation and responsibility

Fernandez also emphasized that gambling regulation cannot remain static as technology reshapes the online gaming sector.

“The future of online gaming will undoubtedly be shaped by technology,” she said, adding that regulation must adapt while maintaining its core objectives.

According to the PAGCOR official, effective regulation needs to balance several priorities: supporting innovation, protecting consumers, maintaining responsible gambling standards and safeguarding the integrity of regulated markets.

“It must be responsive without being reactionary. It must encourage innovation without losing sight of responsibility. It must protect consumers without unnecessarily restricting legitimate enterprise,” Fernandez said.

She added that regulators must also ensure that emerging technologies and business models do not undermine the transparency and integrity of regulated gambling markets.

“And it must preserve the integrity of the regulated market even as new technologies, new business models, and new risks emerge,” she said.

AI creates opportunities for gaming oversight

The potential use of AI in fraud detection, unusual-activity monitoring and compliance could provide regulators with additional tools to strengthen gambling oversight.

However, Fernandez's comments also underline the dual nature of the technology. As regulators adopt AI to improve enforcement and compliance, unauthorized actors can use similar tools to develop more sophisticated methods of fraud and evasion.

PAGCOR therefore sees regulatory adaptability as a key component of maintaining a fair and transparent gaming market.

PAGCOR seeks technology-ready gambling regulation

Fernandez said regulators should not prevent innovation but should ensure that technological development takes place within a fair, responsible and transparent market capable of maintaining public trust.

The comments come as gaming regulators worldwide face questions over how existing gambling rules should address AI, evolving digital products and new technology-driven business models.

The CiG iDEA Summit forms part of the week-long Inside Asian Gaming Expo, which brings together gaming industry stakeholders for discussions, leadership meetings and networking activities.

PAGCOR President and Chief Operating Officer Wilma Eisma and Senior Vice President for Land-Based Operations Sector Daniel Cecilio were also among the senior PAGCOR officials attending the event.