Bloomberry's FollowBet x VMX Live: what celebrity livestream betting on OnlyFun.PH is, and what is still unknown

Author — Lucky777 PH

Short answer — On Thursday, 29 October 2026, Bloomberry Resorts Corp., the listed operator of Solaire, launched FollowBet x VMX Live on its OnlyFun.PH platform together with Viva Communications. The feature lets users watch scheduled livestreams hosted by personalities from Viva's VMX entertainment platform, interact with them, and take part in betting during the broadcast. Angeli Khang and Robb Guinto are the first ambassadors and hosts. The company says the service runs under PAGCOR licensing with identity checks, age-gating and deposit and betting limits. What it has not published is just as important: which games run on the streams, their return-to-player figures, and how hosts are paid.

For a player in the Philippines, this is the first time a major land-based casino group has openly tied celebrity entertainment to live betting on its own licensed app. It is worth understanding exactly what was announced, what the regulator's existing advertising rules say, and how quickly a "watch and play along" session adds up in pesos.

What exactly did Bloomberry and Viva launch on 29 October?

According to BusinessWorld's report of 29 October 2026, Bloomberry partnered with Viva Communications to introduce "celebrity-hosted livestream betting" on OnlyFun.PH. The feature, FollowBet x VMX Live, "allows users to interact with entertainment personalities and participate in online betting during live broadcasts," the company said in a statement. OnlyFun.PH sits inside Bloomberry's FUNaloMAX digital gaming portfolio.

Newsbytes.PH, also on 29 October, reported that the launch was announced at Solaire in Parañaque City and that the company introduced a "Streamer for a Day" feature letting users and aspiring creators host their own livestreams. The Daily Tribune's account on 30 October adds three details: users can take part in games "without leaving the broadcast", more VMX personalities are planned in the coming weeks (it names Jen Rosa, Skye, the Razon sisters and Zarah Laxamana), and Viva vice-president Jay Montelibano said the service operates around the clock, with users able to move between artists' streams.

The July step is on Bloomberry's own site: its 3 July 2026 release describes FUNaloMAX as an in-house platform "engineered natively for the younger, mobile-first generation of Filipino players", sitting beside the older Solaire Online brand for premium players. The October steps build a social layer on top of that platform.

What safeguards does OnlyFun.PH say it uses?

Every safeguard below is the company's own description, repeated by the press. We have not tested the app and we cannot confirm how any of these controls work in practice.

• Licensing. OnlyFun.PH says it operates under PAGCOR's licensing and regulatory framework (BusinessWorld; Newsbytes.PH).
• Identity and age checks. Know-Your-Customer verification and "age-gating measures" so that only eligible users can access livestreams, according to InsiderPH's 29 October report.
• Content monitoring. Streams are monitored and creators must follow broadcasting guidelines (InsiderPH; Daily Tribune).
• Spending tools. Deposit and betting limits plus access to support resources (InsiderPH).

OnlyFun.PH vice-president for player engagement Suzy Polyanska framed the product as an "age-gated environment" that is an alternative to open public platforms "where enforcing age restrictions can be more challenging", in the statement quoted by BusinessWorld. InsiderPH reports she also acknowledged the difficulty of restricting access in households where family members share one phone. That admission is the most useful sentence in the whole launch for a parent: an age check at sign-up does not stop a minor from watching over an adult's shoulder.

How do existing PAGCOR rules apply to celebrity-led betting?

We found no PAGCOR statement specific to FollowBet. Two existing positions are relevant. First, PAGCOR's responsible gaming page lists persons under 21 among those barred from gaming, directs players to check whether a platform is licensed at pagcorguarantee.ph, and lists the National Problem Gambling Helpline at npgh.ph. Second, on 16 July 2025 PAGCOR and the Ad Standards Council signed a memorandum of understanding under which all branded or corporate gambling ads, including online advertising, must be reviewed and approved by the Council before release. PAGCOR chairman Alejandro Tengco said the aim was to make sure gambling ads "ay hindi nanlilinlang at hindi sumasamantala sa kahinaan ng iba" (do not mislead and do not exploit people's vulnerabilities).

Whether a live, unscripted stream hosted by a celebrity counts as an "advertisement" under that agreement is a question the public record does not answer. Neither the company nor the regulator has said how pre-screening applies to a 24-hour broadcast. We flag it as open rather than guess.

Why is Bloomberry pushing online now? The PAGCOR numbers

BusinessWorld placed the launch against PAGCOR's January to September 2026 results: electronic gaming revenues fell 37.23% to ₱27.63 billion from ₱44.03 billion a year earlier, and PAGCOR's overall gaming revenues fell 23.44% to ₱58.13 billion. The newspaper notes these are revenues collected by PAGCOR, not the industry's total gross gaming revenue. From those reported figures we worked out the rest of the picture:

Recomputing the e-gaming fall from the rounded billions gives 37.25%, a hair off the reported 37.23%; the gap is rounding. The striking point is the split: nearly all of the decline sits in electronic gaming, while everything else was roughly flat. A land-based group that wants a bigger online share is therefore competing in a shrinking pool and needs a way to stand out. Celebrity livestreams are one answer. This is our reading of the numbers, not a reason the company gave.

What does "watch and play along" cost in pesos?

Livestream play is built to last as long as the show, and that is where the arithmetic matters. OnlyFun.PH has not published the games, stakes or return-to-player (RTP) figures for FollowBet, so the example below uses assumptions we chose for illustration. They are not the platform's numbers.

Three things follow. First, the amount that passes through your hands, ₱1,200 here, is far larger than the expected loss, and short sessions swing widely around that expectation in both directions. Second, a show that runs "around the clock" removes the natural stopping point a TV programme has; doubling the session doubles every number in the table. Third, a weekly deposit limit of ₱1,000 would not cover even one session at this pace (₱1,000 divided by ₱1,200 is about 0.83 of a session), which is exactly why setting the limit before the stream starts, not during it, is the point of the tool.

A short checklist before joining any betting livestream

• Confirm the platform at pagcorguarantee.ph rather than relying on a logo shown on screen.
• Set deposit and session limits first; treat the host's enthusiasm as entertainment, not information.
• Check the game's rules and RTP in the game itself before staking; if no RTP is shown, assume nothing.
• Keep phones that are used for gaming locked and out of children's reach, the risk the company itself acknowledged.

What is still not confirmed?

• The games. No report names the specific titles or bet types offered on FollowBet streams.
• RTP and odds. None published in any source we read.
• Host compensation. Whether VMX personalities are paid a flat fee or anything linked to betting volume has not been disclosed.
• The regulator's view. We found no PAGCOR statement on FollowBet or on how ad pre-screening applies to live streams.
• Results. Bloomberry has not reported user or revenue figures for OnlyFun.PH; its next quarterly report is the first place they could appear.

Lucky777 PH is an independent information site. We do not operate games, we have no commercial relationship with Bloomberry, Viva or OnlyFun.PH, and this article contains no offer. Gaming in the Philippines is for adults 21 and over; if betting stops being fun, the National Problem Gambling Helpline at npgh.ph is listed by PAGCOR.

Sources (checked 31 October 2026): BusinessWorld, "Bloomberry taps Viva for celebrity-hosted livestream betting", 29 October 2026; Newsbytes.PH, 29 October 2026; Daily Tribune, 30 October 2026; InsiderPH, 29 October 2026; Bloomberry press release on FUNaloMAX, 3 July 2026; PAGCOR and Ad Standards Council MOU, 16 July 2025; PAGCOR responsible gaming. The derived revenue rows, shares, session table and limit example are our calculation; RTP values in the session table are assumptions.