Should the Philippine government regulate or outlaw Internet gambling? That appears to be the question legislators, religious groups, and other concerned sectors want the Philippine government to answer after Sports and Games Entertainment Corp. (http://www.sagecasino.com ), a local startup managing an online casino, began beta operations in May.

The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, the largest local group of Catholic leaders, condemned gambling entirely, offline or online, saying that it is a bane to the welfare of the people.

Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago, on the other hand, recently filed a bill (Senate Bill 1654) seeking to prohibit Internet gambling, while two local representatives from the House of Congress have also issued a resolution questioning the "legality" of SAGE's operations in the Philippines.

A joint hearing of the Committees on Games and Amusements and the Amusements and Legislative Franchises of the House of Representatives has been scheduled for Aug. 29.

SAGE President Johnny Antillon and Alicia LL. Reyes, chairperson and chief executive officer of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR), had been invited to appear on the said hearing.

Reacting to these recent developments, Antillon said that if government plans to come out with a law on online gambling, it should regulate and not prohibit it.

"For the last five years, hundreds of online casinos have sprouted on the Internet. Currently, there are around 800 of them. Addressing the issue of online gambling is not as easy as obliterating us. There will be hundreds more out there," Antillon told Newsbytes.

Atty. Teodorico Delfin of PAGCOR agrees.

"We cannot act as if it (online gambling) does not exist. There are a lot of online casinos on the Internet and we have no control over them. The practical way of dealing with this issue is to 'legalize' it. We have authorized a local operator to operate online gambling, thereby allowing us to regulate its activities," Delfin explained.

PAGCOR granted SAGE a five-year exclusive license to operate online gambling in the Philippines in September 1998. Interestingly, it was only after two years that SAGE was able to start operations.

Opposition to the idea of online gambling, however, mounted after SAGE launched the availability of pre-paid cards for the online casino in July this year.