Recently, the Pagcor or Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp clarified its NDRP or National Database of Restricted Persons. The list does not include gambling addicts. Instead, it identifies those prohibited from gambling. This includes government officials, in any of its unauthorized gaming centers.
It added that one of its gambling licensees with access to the NDRP list likely leaked the hacked data. The agency itself did not release it.
Pagcor clarified in response to social media posts. It said hackers accessed the database but falsely claimed it contained the personal information of gambling addicts.
The Pagcor Code of Practice defines the NDRP as a list of names with personal information. Pagcor compiles and updates this list. It contains people prohibited from entering or playing in specific Pagcor-authorized gaming premises in the Philippines.
The Code states that designated personnel of Philippine gaming industry stakeholders with access to the NDRP must treat all information and data as classified. This applies especially to the identities of excluded persons.
Vina Claudette Oca, assistant vice president of Pagcor for the Gaming Licensing and Development Department, which maintains the NDRP, said the database has over 560,000 names. Most are elected government officials, and their information was taken from the Department of the Interior and Local Government’s website.
In a statement, Oca clarified that the list does not necessarily include addicted gamblers. Instead, it mostly names government officials who, by law, cannot enter gambling establishments. This is why they are in the NDRP.
The list also names 1,711 persons restricted from gambling in any Pagcor-authorized gaming center. Some requested self-exclusion. Others were excluded by the agency’s gaming license holders.
