PAGCOR: “Use double-width poker tables to seat more players”

The gaming regulator has proposed “double-width” tables to allow operators to seat more players at a table.

The Philippines.- In order to reactivate the poker sector amid the Covid-19 pandemic, the Philippines Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) has published a memo authorising operators to combine two poker tables in one to be able to seat more players.

The update amends the regulator’s health and safety standards for the resumption of operations at gaming sites.

The memo reads: “Poker Operators shall be allowed to refurbish, widen and/or customize their poker tables accordingly to further increase its seating capacity subject to the same conditions above, including assembling at maximum two (2) existing poker tables into one to form a larger single poker table that shall count as one active table.”

Chairs should be placed one metre apart and acrylic screens must be installed between each player.

Pagcor revenues fell by 60.4 per cent to US$ 624m in 2020, the lowest level in at least seven years. It has been looking at online casino and e-cockfighting as possible ways to boost revenue.