{"id":18813,"date":"2021-06-09T15:10:42","date_gmt":"2021-06-09T15:10:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=18813"},"modified":"2026-04-23T18:44:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T21:44:13","slug":"the-philippines-approves-two-more-e-sabong-operators","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/the-philippines-approves-two-more-e-sabong-operators","title":{"rendered":"The Philippines approves two more e-sabong operators"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

PAGCOR has allowed four firms to operate e-sabong in the Philippines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The Philippines.- The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (PAGCOR) <\/strong>has announced that four licensed e-sabong (online cockfighting) operators have been granted permits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The regulator previously granted permits to two e-sabong firms<\/a> in May: E-Sports Encuentro Live Corp.<\/strong>, with the online brand of Encuentro Live!; and Visayas Cockers Club Inc.<\/strong>, with the brand Sabong International Ph.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It has now also approved applications from Belvedere Vista Corp. and Lucky 8 Star Quest Inc. PAGCOR chairman Andrea Domingo <\/strong>has said that two more firms have yet to submit application papers<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PAGCOR hopes to grant permits for six e-sabong operators<\/a> as online betting on cockfights <\/strong>has rocketed in the Philippines since cockpits were closed to spectators at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Philippines’ cockfighting industry is believed to be worth just over US$1bn per year<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

PAGCOR is suffering the impact<\/strong> of the closure of Metro Manila casinos<\/a> amid a rise in Covid-19 cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Domingo, the decline in revenue<\/strong> could prevent the regulator from contributing significantly to the Philippine Health Insurance Corp universal healthcare programme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

POGO tax bill<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The President of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte has recently called on lawmakers to pass a bill that sets income and gaming taxes on online casinos<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senate Bill 2232 <\/strong>indicates that Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO) must pay 5 per cent on their gross gaming revenue<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Foreigners employed by online casinos and their service providers would have to pay 25 per cent income tax. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

POGOs<\/a> made US$149.4m in tax payments last year<\/strong> despite the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the resulting departure of many firms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Philippines GGR up 19% in Q1<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In May, PAGCOR<\/a> announced that licensed casinos and PAGCOR-operated casinos brought in GGR <\/strong>of PHP25.74bn (US$536.2m) in Q1<\/strong> 2021.<\/strong> That represents an increase of 19 per cent from PHP25.80bn (US$538.5m) in Q4<\/strong> 2020<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, PAGCOR reported that GGR was down 43.9 per cent year-on-year, <\/strong>mainly due to the impact of Covid-19 restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some 82.1 per cent<\/strong> of GGR came from Entertainment City, which hosts four casino venues: City of Dreams Manila, Solaire Resort and Casino, Okada Manila and Resorts World Manila.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PAGCOR has allowed four firms to operate e-sabong in the Philippines.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":17473,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"PAGCOR has licensed four e-sabong operators in the Philippines, with plans for six, capitalizing on the surge in online cockfighting revenue amidst physical venue closures due to COVID-19. Concurrently, PAGCOR faces significant revenue declines from casino closures, impacting its healthcare contributions, while the President advocates for a new POGO tax bill. Q1 2021 GGR for licensed casinos reached US$536.2m, though this represented a 43.9% year-on-year decrease primarily due to COVID-19 restrictions.","focusai_entities":"Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (PAGCOR), E-Sports Encuentro Live Corp., Encuentro Live!, Visayas Cockers Club Inc., Sabong International Ph, Belvedere Vista Corp., Lucky 8 Star Quest Inc., Andrea Domingo, Rodrigo Duterte, Philippine Health Insurance Corp, City of Dreams Manila, Solaire Resort and Casino, Okada Manila, Resorts World Manila","focusai_location":"Philippines, Metro Manila, Entertainment City","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (0.9), operator_casino (0.9), affiliate_publisher (0.7), investor_analyst (1.0), supplier_vendor (0.8), journalist_researcher (1.0)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"E-sabong Market Outlook","query":"What is the projected GGR contribution of the newly licensed e-sabong operators to PAGCOR's overall revenue, and how does this mitigate the decline from land-based casino operations?"},{"label":"POGO Tax Bill Impact","query":"How will the proposed 5% GGR tax and 25% income tax for foreign POGO employees impact the operational viability and competitive landscape for Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators, considering previous firm departures?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[157,16333],"tags":[405,15789,233],"class_list":["post-18813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-news","category-south-east-asia-news","tag-pagcor","tag-pogos","tag-sports-betting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18813","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=18813"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18813\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18847,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18813\/revisions\/18847"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}