{"id":15670,"date":"2021-03-10T15:09:44","date_gmt":"2021-03-10T15:09:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=15670"},"modified":"2026-04-23T21:14:28","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T00:14:28","slug":"philippines-expecting-to-stem-pogo-exodus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/philippines-expecting-to-stem-pogo-exodus","title":{"rendered":"Philippines expecting to stem POGO exodus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Online gambling operators began leaving The Philippines last year after legislators tried to impose taxes to help fund Covid-19 relief efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The Philippines.- Analysts expect the tide of online gambling operators leaving the country to stop following changes to the country’s proposed tax on operators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Philippines\u2019 lower chamber tried to impose a 5 per cent franchise tax on overall turnover<\/strong><\/a><\/em> for Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs) <\/strong>last year in a bid to make up budget shortfalls caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That, combined with the Covid-19 pandemic, provoked some operators to leave the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tax changes were finally suspended in January <\/strong>following a petition to the Supreme Court from foreign gaming groups, but it was reintroduced in February<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, the bill proposes that offshore gambling licence holders pay a 5 per cent tax on gross gaming receipts and revenues<\/strong><\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to PAGCOR\u2019s website, the number of POGO licence holders that are currently operating is just 33<\/strong>, compared with 61 prior to the Covid crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Danny Too,<\/strong> general manager of Cherry Interactive, said the new bill is more acceptable but that the tax was still high.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said: “I don\u2019t foresee an immediate exodus of all the POGO operators <\/strong>from the Philippines.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark Gilbert<\/strong>, a Philippines-based igaming consultant, agreed but warned “there are still major issues facing the sector.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Online gambling operators began leaving The Philippines last year after legislators tried to impose taxes to help fund Covid-19 relief efforts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":15671,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"The Philippines' legislative body has revised its proposed taxation framework for Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs), shifting from a 5% franchise tax on overall turnover to a 5% tax on gross gaming receipts and revenues. This adjustment follows a significant reduction in active POGO licenses, from 61 to 33, attributed to prior tax proposals and the COVID-19 pandemic. While industry experts deem the revised bill more acceptable, concerns persist regarding the tax rate's impact on sector viability.","focusai_entities":"Cherry Interactive, PAGCOR, Danny Too, Mark Gilbert, Supreme Court","focusai_location":"The Philippines","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.95), regulator (0.95), compliance_legal (0.9), operator_casino (1.0), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.85), journalist_researcher (0.8)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"POGO Tax Impact Analysis","query":"What is the projected financial impact of the 5% gross gaming receipts and revenues tax on the average POGO operator's NGR and profitability, compared to the previously proposed turnover tax?"},{"label":"Regulatory Stability Outlook","query":"Given the legislative volatility, what governance frameworks are being considered by POGOs to mitigate future regulatory compliance risks and ensure operational stability in The Philippines?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[156,158,16333],"tags":[23911,4138,15789],"class_list":["post-15670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-regulation-news","category-slider-home","category-south-east-asia-news","tag-gambling-regulation","tag-online-gambling","tag-pogos"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15670","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15670"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15670\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15700,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15670\/revisions\/15700"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}