GCash and Maya Online Casino Policy Timeline: Philippines, 2025-2026
The break came in August 2025. BSP Memorandum M-2025-029, dated 14 August 2025, told every BSP-supervised institution to remove in-app gambling links within 48 hours, and GCash's Help Center says all licensed gaming top-up and withdrawal services were removed from GCash effective 16 August 2025. PAGCOR then said on 10 December 2025 that it had banned credit cards and cryptocurrencies for betting. The most recent dated change we can source is GCash's own limits table, updated effective 1 October 2026.
This page lists ten dated entries, oldest first, and every one rests on an official document we read on 2 or 3 November 2026. We update it once a month. Official pages can change after we read them, so treat each row as a record of what the source said on that date, and check the linked page for its current wording. Nothing here promises that any payment method works at any site.
The Timeline, Oldest to Newest
| Date | Who | What changed | What it means for players | Official file |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 Aug 2025 | BSP | Memorandum M-2025-029 cites Monetary Board Resolution No. 805 of the same date and tells all BSP-supervised institutions to remove in-app gambling links from their payment apps and websites within 48 hours | Payment apps under BSP supervision could no longer send you from the app to a gambling site. The memo is about links, and it does not say which wallets a casino cashier can take | m-2025-029.pdf |
| 16 Aug 2025 | GCash | Help Center says all licensed gaming top-up and withdrawal services were removed from GCash effective 16 August 2025 and the Games service is no longer in the app | The in-app route into gaming sites is gone. For money still sitting in a gaming account, GCash points you to the licensed gaming merchant | Help Center: Suspension of Gaming access in GLife |
| 11 Nov 2025 | PAGCOR | Q3 2025 results release describes a mandatory delinking of e-wallets from legitimate gaming platforms and links it to a short-term drop in activity | PAGCOR treats the delinking as sector policy. The release does not name GCash or Maya | PAGCOR press release: PH 3rd quarter GGR flat at Php94.51B |
| 10 Dec 2025 | PAGCOR | Press release on responsible-gaming safeguards lists the delinking of e-wallets and certain payment channels, and says credit cards and cryptocurrencies are prohibited for betting | Cards and crypto are off the table at licensed sites. The release gives no separate effective date or circular number | PAGCOR press release: PAGCOR enhances responsible gaming safeguards |
| 21 May 2026 | PAGCOR | Memorandum announces the 24/7 National Problem Gambling Helpline, effective 26 May 2026 at 6:00 PM, and says the older responsible-gaming line (02) 8538-9090 stops being active from that date | A support number changed. The memo says the helpline is not a PAGCOR number and cannot connect calls | Memorandum on 24/7 National Problem Gambling Helpline (PDF) |
| 1 Oct 2026 | GCash | Help Center notes that GCash wallet limits were updated effective 1 October 2026 and that the app must be updated to show them | The ceiling on what a GCash wallet can hold and move was reset for all profiles | Help Center: wallet and transaction limits |
| 13 Oct 2026 | GCash | Page on raising limits was last edited on this date and now says an adult on Basic can raise the limit to PHP 1,000,000 by getting fully verified | Verification is the only way up from Basic, and GCash says downgrading to a lower limit is not available | Help Center: increase or decrease limits |
| 16 Oct 2026 | GCash | Limits table was last edited on this date and now reads: Fully Verified wallet PHP 1,000,000, monthly incoming and outgoing PHP 1,000,000 each, daily outgoing PHP 500,000 | Figures quoted before this edit, including ours from 7 October, are out of date | Help Center: wallet and transaction limits |
| 24 Oct 2026 | GCash | Verification page edited on this date; our 2 November read of that version said the SMS update comes after 7 days | Superseded by the 3 November edit below | Help Center: How to verify my GCash account |
| 3 Nov 2026 | GCash | Verification page edited again and now says you get an update through SMS after 3 days (checked 3 November 2026) | The stated wait changed between the 24 October and 3 November edits; read the live page before planning a deposit | Help Center: How to verify my GCash account |
Two notes on reading the table. The 13, 16 and 24 October and 3 November dates are the Help Center's own last-edited stamps. GCash publishes no change log, so we can show what the page says now, not exactly what changed. And a BSP memo or a PAGCOR release is the regulator speaking; a Help Center page is GCash describing its own service. They carry different weight.
What the BSP Memo Is Waiting For
M-2025-029 says the Monetary Board approved the suspension "pending the issuance and implementation" of a policy on online gambling payment services. That policy exists on bsp.gov.ph as an exposure draft, not as a final circular we could find. The draft is undated and its circular and resolution numbers are blank, so we do not place it in the table.
If it were adopted as written, the draft would require payment providers to get prior BSP authority, set a minimum capitalisation of PHP 300,000,000, cap daily transfers into a gambling account at 20% of the owner's average daily balance, limit the offer window to six hours a day, apply a 24-hour cooling-off after heavy use and switch off lending options once a gambling account is created. These are proposals. Do not read any of them as a rule in force. We searched the BSP site on 2 November 2026 and found no final version, which is not proof that none exists.
GCash Verification Levels as of 2 November 2026
GCash says that if you reach a limit you cannot use certain services until it resets on the 1st day of the following month or you upgrade your profile. This is the Help Center table as read on 2 November 2026:
| Profile | Wallet limit | Monthly incoming | Monthly outgoing | Daily outgoing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | PHP 10,000 | PHP 5,000 | PHP 5,000 | No limit |
| GCash Jr. | PHP 100,000 | PHP 100,000 | PHP 100,000 | PHP 100,000 |
| Fully Verified | PHP 1,000,000 | PHP 1,000,000 | PHP 1,000,000 | PHP 500,000 |
| 5M | PHP 5,000,000 | PHP 5,000,000 | PHP 5,000,000 | PHP 1,000,000 |
| 10M | PHP 10,000,000 | PHP 10,000,000 | PHP 10,000,000 | PHP 1,000,000 |
Fully Verified covers adults, GTourist and PowerPay Plus users. The 5M and 10M profiles are for eligible customers with certain active GCash investment and savings products, subject to approval. Your own figures are under Profile, then Profile Limits, in the app.
GCash's Basic versus Fully Verified page says Basic keeps Pay Bills, Buy Load, Cash In and Scan to Pay, while Fully Verified adds Send Money, Bank Transfer, Pay Online and GCash Card among others. For adults with a PH SIM, verification needs one valid government ID and a selfie scan. GCash says the ID must be the actual physical card, except the National ID. Our GCash limits and verification guide walks through the steps and was updated on 3 November 2026 to the same figures as the table above.
On the gaming side, the caveat stays fixed: GCash's Help Center says licensed gaming top-up and withdrawal services were removed from GCash effective 16 August 2025, and the page is the place to check its current wording. We could not confirm from any official page which PAGCOR-licensed cashier takes GCash or Maya today, so we name none. If a page asks you to Send Money to a personal number, that is not a checkout. See our GCash deposit guide and GCash withdrawal guide for the checks to run first.
What We Can and Cannot Say About Maya
Here the record is thinner. Maya's own account-limits page lists four tiers, Basic, Upgraded, Super Users and Ultimate Users, with monthly wallet-balance ceilings from PHP 50,000 to PHP 5,000,000. The page carries no date and says the limits are subject to change, so it cannot go in a dated timeline. Maya's Terms and Conditions say Maya may limit, suspend, restrict or make available certain features to follow BSP requirements. That is a general clause, not a notice about gambling.
Maya's support-center page about its Games feature would be the right official source for its August 2025 change. It did not load for us on 2 November 2026, so we do not list a Maya entry and we do not date Maya's change from news reports. The BSP memo applied to every BSP-supervised institution, which is why it sits first in the table, but the memo does not name Maya. For wallet fees and limits side by side, use our GCash vs Maya comparison and our payment methods comparison.
What This Timeline Does Not Tell You
- It is not a list of what works. A policy change tells you what regulators and wallet companies said, not what any operator's cashier accepts on the day you play.
- It is not complete. We only list events with an official document we could read. Events reported by news outlets but not found in an official source are left out, so a missing date is not a claim that nothing happened.
- It is not a rule for credit cards at every site. PAGCOR said on 10 December 2025 it had banned them, and its release gives no separate effective date, so we do not give one. A site that still takes cards or crypto from Philippine players is a warning sign; our deposit rules summary and USDT guide cover the detail.
- It does not make a site safe. Check the exact web address against PAGCOR's official lists, as in how to spot a real PAGCOR-licensed casino.
How We Built and Update This Page
Each entry needs an official original: a bsp.gov.ph issuance, a pagcor.ph release or memorandum, a GCash Help Center article or a maya.ph page. News reports are leads only and never become rows. We read each file in full on the date shown, record the date, and leave an event out if we cannot read the official text. We re-read every source once a month and correct this page openly when a figure changes. One such correction has already been applied: earlier articles on this site quoted PHP 500,000 for Fully Verified from a 7 October 2026 read; they were updated on 3 November 2026 to the current PHP 1,000,000 figure after the Help Center edit.
Sources, Checked on 2 November 2026 (GCash Verification Page Re-Read 3 November 2026)
- BSP Memorandum No. M-2025-029, Suspension of In-app Gambling Access in Mobile Payment Apps and Websites (PDF)
- BSP exposure draft: Regulations on Online Gambling Payment Services (PDF, undated)
- GCash Help Center: Suspension of Gaming access in GLife
- GCash Help Center: What are my GCash wallet and transaction limits?
- GCash Help Center: How to increase or decrease my GCash wallet and transaction limits?
- GCash Help Center: How to verify my GCash account
- GCash Help Center: Accepted IDs for GCash verification
- GCash Help Center: What are the features of Basic vs. Fully Verified accounts?
- PAGCOR press release, 11 November 2025: PH 3rd quarter GGR flat at Php94.51B amid online gaming reforms
- PAGCOR release, 27 November 2025: Stricter rules help shape a more responsible E-Games sector
- PAGCOR press release, 10 December 2025: PAGCOR enhances responsible gaming safeguards amid digital play growth
- PAGCOR release, 16 April 2026: PH gross gaming revenues up 6.39% to Php396.14B in 2025
- PAGCOR Memorandum, 21 May 2026: 24/7 National Problem Gambling Helpline (PDF)
- Maya: Account limits
- Maya: Terms and Conditions
Gambling is for players 21 and over. If it stops being fun, call (02) 8248-9568, the National Problem Gambling Helpline, which PAGCOR publicises but which is not a PAGCOR number. Our self-exclusion and helpline guide and responsible gambling page explain the tools available.