The Philippines’ gambling regulator, Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR), reported a 120% year-on-year increase of income following increased efforts to safeguard against offshore gambling.
To delve deeper into these developments, SBC’s Multimedia Editor, James Ross, is joined by CasinoBeats’ Editor Joe Streeter and Senior Journalist, Conor Porter, on today’s episode of iGaming Daily, supported by Optimove.
PAGCOR has also revealed plans to ban Philippines Offshore Gaming Operators (Pogo) hubs, which have faced controversy in recent years amidst a string of raids and links to human trafficking allegations.
On the plans, Joe said: “The main action of banning the Pogo hubs is driven by an overall ambition to clean up the sector in the region and clean up the region’s gambling reputation, which has kind of plagued it recently.
“The PAGCOR chairman underlined that this is a process and that whilst they couldn’t guarantee that bad actors would no longer look to engage in illicit activities, they are looking to really increase the obstacles towards these activities and make it harder for them to be engaged with.”
Actions to clamp down on the illicit gaming sector, which include increasing the monitoring of operators that hold offshore gaming licences, is part of a plan to see the country be removed from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a goal it is aiming to achieve by the start of 2025.
Joe explains that banning the hubs may be key to this goal being achieved given that they have “had an impact on the reputation of the wider gambling industry” due to allegations of human trafficking and other illegal activities.
Conor added: “You only have to look at the numbers from the recently released financial reports to show the indication of not only what net income and revenue can be generated from these operations, but also how those operations can contribute towards government initiatives that help out the country.
“It’s one of the reasons why [PAGCOR] want to clamp down on the offshore market and in reality solidify their presence as a gambling regulator so that they can better protect players, but also provide vital support for government initiatives as well.”
Pogo hubs were first introduced in 2019 and one of the reasons for their implementation was to differentiate communications between Chinese workers and local Filipinos.
In recent weeks, the Chinese embassy released a statement calling for Filipino regulators to intensify action against offshore gambling activity and warned Chinese citizens from engaging in gaming activity in the Philippines.
“China is a big player in that region and their political weight will have some thrust,” explained Joe. “They just emphasised that Chinese law prohibits all forms of gambling and that Chinese society strictly cracks down on Chinese citizens engaging in gambling businesses abroad, including Pogos.
“They stated that there’s ample evidence that shows Pogos breed serious crimes such as kidnapping for ransom, human trafficking and murder [and] are detrimental to both Philippine and Chinese interests as well as Chinese-Philippine relations.”
He adds that the Chinese statement came before the latest plans from PAGCOR and that if the Philippines can clean up its gambling act “the future looks bright for the Filipino gaming sector”.
