The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) said over the weekend that it has ramped up efforts to crack down on unlicensed online gambling operations conducted on the territory of the country and that those found to be violating existing regulations will face “dire consequences”.
PAGCOR has raided 170 establishments operating illegally since the beginning of the year, the regulator said in a statement from this past weekend. They were all found to have provided online gambling services without the necessary POGO (Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators) licenses issued by PAGCOR. Only holders of these licenses are allowed to operate Internet gambling on the territory of the Philippines.
The illegal gambling operations were found to have serviced customers from around the Asia-Pacific, mostly Chinese ones. PAGCOR also revealed that some of the apprehended individuals during the raids were found to have been Mandarin-speaking foreigners working at the illegal businesses without the necessary immigration and labor papers.
According to official data, there are around 100,000 Chinese nationals currently employed in the Philippine online gaming industry. Their roles mostly involve marketing and customer and technical support to Mandarin-speaking customers.
The gambling regulator pointed out that those apprehended are facing charges or deportation. The ongoing crackdown on illegal Internet gambling is being conducted in cooperation with the National Bureau of Investigation, the Philippine National Police, and the Philippine Bureau of Immigration.
Regular Audits and Monitoring
PAGCOR Chief Andrea Domingo said over the weekend that the regulator’s third-party audit platform will become fully operational very soon. The regulatory body is charged with regularly auditing and monitoring the operation of the POGO license holders.
The new platform is expected to better monitor whether license owners are contributing the proper revenue share to the government and that they comply with national, labor, and host municipality laws while providing offshore gambling operations.
POGO license holders are required to comply with a number of labor, immigration, and other regulations related to the provision of gambling services. PAGCOR, through its Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement Department, has to ensure that those regulations are not violated in any way and to monitor for any violations, including poor working conditions, employment of undocumented foreign nationals and minors, and exploitation of staff members.
The launch of the third-party audit system is expected to generate PHP6 billion in revenue from the POGO license holders. POGO revenue totaled PHP3.9 billion last year. Each POGO operator is required to pay the amount of $200,000 in license fees; application and processing fees come at a $15,000 price. Aside from the aforementioned fees, POGO licensees are also required to put aside $250,000 in a cash fund in case they cannot pay out winnings to their customers. According to estimates, the amount of PHP3 billion can be generated from the issuance of POGO licenses alone.
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