PDO bindParam() with prepared statement isn't working

Using bindParam() the variable is bound as a reference.

A string can't be passed by reference.

The following things can be passed by reference:

Variables, i.e. foo($a)

New statements, i.e. foo(new foobar())

References returned from functions

Try using bindValue()

$STH->bindValue(':id', '1', PDO::PARAM_STR);

PHP bindParam() binds a PHP variable to a corresponding named or question mark placeholder in the SQL statement that was used to prepare the statement.

The correct way to use bindParam is:

$id = 1;
$sth = $DBH->prepare("SELECT * FROM juegos WHERE id = :id");
$sth->bindParam(':id', $id, PDO::PARAM_INT);// use bindParam to bind the variable
                          // ^ PDO::PARAM_INT - the value of the variable $id should be an int
                     // ^ $id - the variable being represented by ':id',
              // ^ :id - represents the variable
              // $id - the variable being represented by ':id',

PHP bindValue() binds a value to a corresponding named or question mark placeholder in the SQL statement that was used to prepare the statement.

$id=10;
$name=roadkill;
$sth = $dbh->prepare('SELECT *
    FROM juegos
    WHERE id < :id AND name = :name');
$sth->bindValue(':id', $id, PDO::PARAM_INT);// use bindValue to bind the variable's value
$sth->bindValue(':name', $name, PDO::PARAM_STR);// use bindValue to bind the variable's value

The key difference between these two methods is that unlike PDOStatement::bindValue(), with bindParam() the variable is bound as a reference and will only be evaluated at the time that PDOStatement::execute() is called.

The value for the :tabla parameter will be automatically quoted and escaped by PDO. The query executed would become:

SELECT * FROM 'juegos'

which is not valid SQL.