10JILI Illegal Sabong Penalty: Which Law Applies and What It Costs

Online e-sabong has been suspended nationwide since 2022, and the suspension is no loophole: illegal cockfighting still carries jail terms and fines. The illegal sabong penalty you face depends on your role and on which decree applies. This page sets out each tier, and the wider 10JILI sabong law explainer puts them in context.

Illegal sabong penalty at a glance

Three tiers answer most questions. Find your role in the first column.

Role	Penalty	Law
Financer, owner, manager or operator of a cockpit, or a gaffer, referee or bet taker	Prision correccional (maximum period) and a fine of ₱2,000	PD 449, Section 8(a)
Any other offender under PD 449	Prision correccional, or a fine of ₱600 to ₱2,000, or both	PD 449, Section 8(b)
Any person who takes part, directly or indirectly, in illegal or unauthorized cockfighting	Prision correccional (medium period) or a fine of ₱1,000 to ₱6,000	PD 1602, Section 1(a)(1)

Prision correccional runs from six months and one day to six years under Article 27 of the Revised Penal Code. Prision mayor, which appears further down, runs from six years and one day to twelve years.

Cockfighting law Philippines 1974: what PD 449 punishes

Presidential Decree No. 449 is the base law, issued on 9 May 1974. Section 8 punishes any violation of the decree or its rules, and three kinds of violation come up most.

1. Holding cockfights outside a licensed cockpit, or outside the permitted days of Sundays, legal holidays and local fiestas.
2. Allowing or taking part in any other gambling on the premises during a cockfight.
3. Acting as a gaffer, referee or bet taker without the yearly license.

The cockfighting rules on days and licenses explain the days and licenses that these offences refer to.

Illegal gambling penalty Philippines: the PD 1602 tiers

Presidential Decree No. 1602, issued on 11 June 1978, prescribes stiffer penalties on illegal gambling, and its list of games names cockfighting first. The tiers below are the ones that reach cockfighting.

Who	Penalty under PD 1602, Section 1
A person who takes part in illegal or unauthorized cockfighting	Prision correccional (medium period) or a fine of ₱1,000 to ₱6,000; for a repeat offender, prision mayor (medium period) or a fine of ₱5,000 to ₱10,000
A person who knowingly lets it happen on property they own or control	The same tier; a place with a gambling reputation, or a public building or barangay hall, carries prision correccional (maximum period) and a ₱6,000 fine
The maintainer or conductor	Prision correccional (maximum period) or a fine of ₱6,000
A government official who maintains or conducts it	Prision mayor (medium period) with temporary absolute disqualification, or a fine of ₱6,000
A barangay official who knows of a gambling place and fails to act	Temporary absolute disqualification
A security officer or guard at a known gambling place	Prision correccional (maximum period) or a fine of ₱500 to ₱2,000

Section 2 adds an informer’s reward of twenty percent of the cash and articles of value confiscated or forfeited. It applies to information that leads to an arrest and final conviction.

What Executive Order No. 9 adds for online sabong

Executive Order No. 9, signed by President Marcos on 28 December 2022, is a suspension and not a penal statute. Four points tell you how it works with the tiers above.

1. It sets no penalty of its own. It directs PAGCOR to coordinate, and the DILG and PNP to act against violators “in accordance with law”.
2. Its recitals cite PD 449, PD 1602 and Executive Order No. 13 (2017), which declared as illegal gambling all activities directly or indirectly related to gambling that are conducted beyond the territorial jurisdiction of the authority that issued the license.
3. PD 1602 reaches anyone who takes part “directly or indirectly” in unauthorized cockfighting, and a wager placed through an unlicensed stream falls inside that wording.
4. The PNP said in February 2026 that e-sabong remains banned and that its Anti-Cybercrime Group is tracing livestream sources, VPN networks and offshore hosting.

For a specific situation, ask a Philippine lawyer. The e-sabong license record shows why no license covers an online fight today.

Bills in Congress: proposed penalties, not law

The House of Representatives passed House Bill 11254 on 6 June 2025 by a vote of 162 to 2 on third and final reading. It would prohibit online cockfighting and declare invalid every PAGCOR e-sabong permit and license. Its proposed penalty is imprisonment of one to 20 years, or a fine of at least ₱500,000, or both, with dismissal and permanent disqualification for public officers.

A bill applies only after it becomes law. Read its current status on the Senate’s website at senate.gov.ph before you rely on any figure in it, and read the sabong history timeline for how these decrees built on one another.