PhilWeb closer to e-Games license

Philippines President directed Pagcor to reinstate some of the expired licenses.

Philippines.- According to multiple sources, the online gaming developer PhilWeb Corporation will receive the permission to reopen its more than 120 e-Games gaming parlors across the Philippines after the official regulator Philippine Amusement And Gaming Corporation reviewed the case.

Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte has supposedly ordered Pagcor to reinstate the expired licenses as long as the venues are away from schools and churches. The change of mind could be attributed to the fact that PhilWeb is one of the main contributors to central government coffers. A couple of months earlier, Pagcor announced that they would not renew PhilWeb’s right to run a network of gaming parlors that offer online games.

Gregorio Araneta, PhilWeb’s new chairman, confirmed earlier this month that a new permit was already in progress, and that once the license is issued, the company will restart its operations and the 286 e-Games outlets Pagcor has, so they can put its more than 5000 employees and operators back to work.

“About 5,000 people are expecting this. I told Pagcor, I’m not the one who’s hurting. The business is there, the longer you keep us closed, the harder it would be for the operators, there will be lesser revenues,” he said.