Searching for the best online casino that accepts pesos?
We outline the best online casinos to play at, how to choose the best one, the legality of playing with pesos, and the payment methods that can be used to deposit and withdraw in pesos.
Online Casinos for Filipinos that accept PHP and allow you to play in PHP are a dime a dozen. Hence it can drive you “loko loko” trying to choose the best online casino to have an enjoyable winning experience, i.e. they may not be honest or can be trusted.
PHP isn’t the most widely traded currency in the world. Unfortunately, this narrows down the number of Online Pesos Casinos that you can play safely and securely. But, YES, there are some quality ones, that can be found.
Choose from our recommended list, review the most popular payment methods, and understand the criteria of selecting an online casino when playing with pesos.
Top Online Philippine PHP Casinos
| CASINO | RATING | BONUS | PLAY | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  20Bet Casino | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | 100% up to 7,000 PHP Welcome Bonus | PLAY NOW |
| 2 |  22Bet | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | 100% up to 7,000 PHP Welcome Bonus | PLAY NOW |
| 3 |  1XBET | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | 100% up to 5,400PHP Welcome Bonus | PLAY NOW |
| 4 |  BitStarz | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | 100% up to $100 + 180 Free Spins Welcome Bonus | PLAY NOW |
| 5 |  betObet | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | 100% up to $100 Welcome Bonus | PLAY NOW |
Legality of PHP Online Casinos
You may be thinking that online gambling is illegal in the Philippines. This could not be further from the truth. The Philippines does license and regulate online gambling; however, the laws are quite ambiguous and can change quite quickly per Government policy. Having said that, gambling is permitted and accepted as lawful.
The industry is regulated by two departments – the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) and the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA). These two departments clearly outline regulations for local land-based casinos, which naturally accepts pesos, and online operated casinos which can only accept oversea players.
This leaves a gap in the law which offshore online casinos fulfill to meet the needs of locals. There are no laws that prohibits Filipinos from playing at any online casino. Rather it is the Government that prohibit local onshore operators from accepting locals.
Thus it is legal to play at online casinos using pesos.
Choosing an Online PHP Casino
In choosing an online casino for Filipinos, let’s look at the different components of gambling online, what do they mean, and how the Pesos impacts these components.
Each component has relevance to the Pesos, with varying degrees.
Bonuses and Promotions in Pesos
A key component to consider when choosing an online casino are the various Bonuses and Promotions.
Bonuses often come in the form of Welcome Packages, which is a combination of match percentages and “up to” thresholds based on the deposit amount. You should consider how much the match percentage is when comparing online casinos. The higher the percentage, the better.
For example: If it were 100%, the online casino will give you an amount equal free real money credit equal to your deposit. If it were 150%, then they will give it 1.5 times your deposit. The higher percentage of 150% is better as a proportion of free real money credited to your account.
But, in absolute terms, the result may be different due to threshold caps that an online casino can place. They describe these caps with the language of “up to”.
The “up to” threshold is often denominated in $(USD), however, this does not mean the casino will not accept Pesos. The reason why PHP is not denominated, is that often online casinos do not have the ability to list out all currencies on offer to all their players. To make it easy, they usually just denominate in $ (dollar).
An example is as follows: “100% up to $200”. This means the maximum bonus given would be at $200USD. How this translates to PHP is very easy. You can either convert using a rough exchange rate to Pesos, or if you want to go further click through to the online casino and you will be able to find the Pesos Bonus amount “100% up to P10,000”.
Often the match percentage and the Up to threshold will slide down from first, to second, to third deposits and so forth. Again, this is usually stipulated in USD, but to find the Pesos equivalent is very easy. Use a rough exchange rate and/or click through to the online casino to see the PHP denomination.
On a side note: occasionally, some Filipino online casinos will offer a higher match percentage and up to threshold on the second deposit, however this is extremely rare.
As a Filipino, you should place the most weighting in choosing an online casino that has a good match percentage and up to threshold.
Wagering Requirements
With free real pesos offered through match bonus percentages and “up to” thresholds, there are terms and conditions that are applied to prevent Filipino players from making quick piso. To stop Filipinos from doing this, online casino will apply a wagering requirement.
Wagering requirements are conditions that mandates a player to play a number of times on games with meeting a minimum total wagered. This must be met prior to allowing the player to withdraw their winnings i.e. cashing out.
For example: 50x wagering requirement of the Peso bonus may be shown. This means that a Filipino player must wager 50x P10,000 = P500,000 before winnings can be withdrawn. Sometimes a casino will say 50x deposit AND bonus. In doing so, this increases the wagering requirement further. Filipino players should therefore avoid casinos with a wagering requirement that is inclusive of bonus and deposit. Stick to those with bonus only, as these often have a lower absolute PHP wagering requirement to be met.
Beware of Bonus Limitations for Filipinos
Filipinos should take note, that there are sometimes limitations with what games the bonus can be used to play on. Look carefully through the Terms and Conditions, because it can be confusing at times.
Why does the online casino do this?
It’s not just for Filipinos but is applicable for players for all countries. Online casinos parter with various iGaming software providers. iGaming software providers are sometimes restricted with whom they can accept. Online casinos will partner several gaming providers and, to be honest, they will stretch their marketing to extol the entire range of gaming on offer, even though it may not be available ALL available due to country restrictions.
In addition, sometimes an online casino has formed a partnership to promote a particular new game that has been launched. The bonus offered is then used as a marketing tool to drive more players to the new game.
Free Spins
Free spins are also known as bonus spins and are thrown into the Bonus packages. Free spins are for online slot games and allow players to turn the reels without the need to wager any Pesos. However, similar to the use of the match bonus, the free spins may be restricted to one or a group of slot games. Online casinos do this to promote new slot games.
Promotions
After signing up, there are other benefits in the form of promotions that Filipinos can enjoy. Promotions are commonly daily throughout the week. These can include match bonus days on additional deposits or cashback percentage returned on losses.
Cashback promotions effectively increase the Return To Player (RTP) lengthening the player’s bank roll. A healthy cashback can range between 10% to 20%, and can be very rewarding, irrespective of playing in PHP or USD or any other currency.
Payment Methods for Pesos
There are many ways in which deposits can be made to online casinos with pesos. Choose a method that is relatively easy and convenient for you. Often, the concern is that transaction fees are high and reliability cannot be trusted.
Our recommended and preferred method of depositing and withdrawing with pesos is GCash. However, we outline other common safe and low transaction methods that you can choose from.
GCash
GCash is the most popular digital payment method in the Philippines. It is one of two fintech unicorns, the other being PayMaya which is discussed in the following paragraph. GCash is one of the first movers in the ewallet space, filling the void for Filipinos who do not have bank accounts but do have mobile phones. GCash has many partners (VISA and MasterCard) and is supported by BSP, so you can rest assured that using GCash is safe and secure.
PayMaya
PayMaya is another popular digital payment method that uses an e wallet. As with GCash, it too has partnered MasterCard and VISA to offer debit cards.
The versatility offers Filipinos to not only use PayMaya but to extend to debit cards if they wish. But bear in mind, the fees incurred are higher at 2.5% when compared to the direct PayMaya transaction.
VISA and MasterCard
To be honest, creditcards are not that popular in the Philippines. This is mostly attributed to the fact that many Filipinos do not have bank accounts that they can attach the credit card facility to.
But now with GCash and PayMaya, creditcards can be easily used. But alas they are too far behind GCash and PayMaya to make up ground in the competitive payment methods market.
Nevertheless, there are many online casino that accept creditcard in PHP. So if you do have a stand alone VISA or MasterCard that is not affiliated with either GCash or PayMaya, you can easily use it to make a deposit in PHP.
PayPal
The third most popular digital ewallet that holds PHP is PayPal. PayPal is great for global transactions. In addition, PayPal offers a conversion facility (with their own exchange rates). This means Filipinos can easily convert (if they have to), which is one advantage over using GCash or PayMaya. Having said that, by far the majority of Filipinos would be using pesos only, without the need to exchange.
Skrill and Neteller
These two ewallets are extremely popular globally, but not so much in the Philippines. They are commonly used for online gaming and were the pioneers of anonymous transactions until countries around the world began to strengthen KYC anti money laundering laws.
Yes, Skrill and Neteller can be used to make deposits in PHP, but it’s unlikely that you would need to use these payment methods when there are others more convenient and common to use.
Bitcoin, Ethereum and Altcoins
Other options include Bitcoin and altcoins. Of course these are NOT denominated in PHP. Having said that, the value of cryptocurrencies continue to rise and is arguably more stable than PHP.
FAQ
By using pesos you avoid conversion commission and other transaction fees to convert to USD or another denomination to play in. You get most bang for your pesos, by depositing in pesos and playing with pesos. Don’t convert, otherwise you will lose out.
Yes, there are online casinos that do accept players from Philippines and allow deposits in pesos and play with pesos. We highly recommend choosing from our vetted list of casinos.
Yes it is legal to gamble with pesos. There is no law that prohibits a player from making a deposit at an online casino with pesos. However, laws to prevent online casino operators from being located onshore within the Philippines. Hence, all online casinos are offshore.
There are several payment methods that can be used to deposit in peso. Our preferred method is GCash. GCash is the most popular digital payment method in the Philippines.