GCash and Maya vs bank transfer for iGaming deposits in the Philippines after the e-wallet delinking

If you run a sportsbook, casino or gaming platform that takes Philippine players, your deposit mix changed overnight in August 2025. Until then, GCash and Maya were the default way to top up a gaming wallet, often from a tile inside the e-wallet app itself. That shortcut is gone. This article compares the two e-wallets against bank transfer rails for a merchant deciding how to collect deposits from the Philippines in 2026.

What actually changed in August 2025

On 14 August 2025 the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) ordered its supervised institutions to remove in-app links and icons that gave access to online gambling platforms within 48 hours. Deputy Governor Mamerto Tangonan confirmed the order at a Senate inquiry, and both GCash and Maya said they would comply (reported by The Philippine Star). GCash removed its licensed gaming top-up and withdrawal services on 16 August 2025 and told users to go to operators' own websites to access their accounts (reported by Asia Gaming Brief).

The effect was immediate. PAGCOR Chairman Alejandro Tengco told lawmakers that online gaming transactions fell by around 50 percent in the days after the order, and in October 2025 PAGCOR said its monthly income had dropped to about PHP 2.9 billion in September from PHP 5.7 billion in May (The Philippine Star, citing PAGCOR Assistant Vice President Jessa Mariz Fernandez). A year later the drag is still visible: Asia Gaming Brief reported in October 2026, citing AP Securities, that GCash parent Mynt's payment solutions revenue fell 3.7 percent year on year in the first half of 2026.

The BSP order removed the in-app discovery and one-tap top-up path. It did not, by itself, switch off GCash or Maya as payment instruments. It pushed every deposit back onto the operator's own cashier, where the player has to initiate the payment.

GCash and Maya as deposit methods today

GCash and Maya still have the largest active user bases among Philippine wallets, and most players already hold a balance there. The practical question is whether a given gaming merchant can get and keep a merchant integration.

In the delinking hearings, Maya's Toff Rada described PAGCOR licensed operators as merchants that paid a percentage on top-ups, and put the industry rate at roughly 2 to 3 percent (The Philippine Star). Since the order, both wallets have been under sustained political and regulatory pressure, with senators asking whether e-wallets should be barred from holding accounts for gambling platforms at all, and the BSP drafting a circular on betting limits, top-up windows and a ban on using online loans for gambling (The Philippine Star).

For a merchant this means three things. Direct wallet onboarding for a gambling MCC is hard and can be withdrawn at short notice. Visibly gambling related volume attracts reviews and holds. And any flow that reintroduces a link from the wallet to a gaming site is exactly what the BSP told its institutions to remove.

Where GCash and Maya still work well is as a funding source behind a bank rail. A player can pay a QR Ph code or an InstaPay transfer from their GCash or Maya balance to a collecting account. The wallet is the source of funds, but the merchant's integration is with the bank side.

Bank transfer rails: InstaPay, PESONet and QR Ph

The Philippines has a mature set of BSP backed rails. InstaPay handles real time transfers up to a per transaction cap, PESONet handles batch transfers that settle the same business day, and QR Ph is the national QR standard that works across banks and wallets. Together they form the fallback that absorbed most of the volume once the in-app links vanished.

For deposits, the typical setup is a cashier page that shows a QR Ph code or bank account details, the player pays from any bank or wallet, and the collecting partner matches the credit to the order by reference, amount or timing. The advantages are reach, lower dependence on a single wallet's risk appetite, and no need to present yourself to the wallet as a gambling merchant. The disadvantages are reconciliation effort, mismatches when a player edits the reference, and the need to manage collecting accounts so that one bank's review does not stop your whole cashier.

Side by side

What this means for your cashier

Treat GCash and Maya as what players use to fund a payment, not as the integration you depend on. Build the cashier around bank rails with QR Ph as the primary method, keep account details and references clean, and make sure your provider can rotate collecting accounts without downtime. Offer payouts over InstaPay to the player's bank or wallet, since fast withdrawals are now one of the few product differences a licensed operator can still show against illegal sites that never lost their wallet access.

Watch the regulatory calendar. The BSP's draft circular on betting limits and top-up windows, and the bills filed in Congress that range from advertising bans to a full prohibition, could change the picture again. A provider that only knows how to run one wallet integration will be the first casualty of the next rule change.

FAQ

Can Philippine players still deposit with GCash or Maya? Yes, in practice. The BSP order removed the in-app links and tiles, not the wallets themselves. Players can pay a QR Ph code or an InstaPay transfer from their GCash or Maya balance through the operator's own cashier.

Is a direct GCash or Maya merchant account realistic for a gaming merchant? It is difficult and can be withdrawn. Both wallets are under continued pressure from the BSP and the Senate over gambling related flows, so most operators now route through bank rails instead of relying on a wallet merchant account.

Which bank rail should be the default for deposits? QR Ph with InstaPay underneath is the usual choice because it is real time and works from almost every bank and wallet app. PESONet suits larger, slower transfers, and is rarely the primary deposit rail.

Working with BestPay24

BestPay24 provides collection and payout for high risk merchants in the Philippines and across Asia, including QR Ph and InstaPay based deposits that players can fund from GCash, Maya or any bank, with reconciliation handled on our side. There is no setup fee and no prepayment. To discuss volumes and settlement terms, message us on Telegram at @Bestpay24SalesSupport.