{"id":24640,"date":"2021-11-18T07:35:48","date_gmt":"2021-11-18T10:35:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=24640"},"modified":"2026-04-23T13:44:04","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T16:44:04","slug":"philippines-amlc-revokes-third-pogo-registration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/philippines-amlc-revokes-third-pogo-registration","title":{"rendered":"Philippines: AMLC revokes third POGO registration"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Smarc Group International, a POGO operator, has been added to the AMLC list of POGOs that have failed to cooperate with the regulator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The Philippines.-\u00a0A third Philippine offshore gaming operator (POGO)<\/strong>, Smarc Group International, has had its registration revoked by the AMLC. According to the regulator, it\u00a0failed to cooperate with its compliance checking<\/strong>.\u00a0It receives the same fate as MG Universal Link Limited (MG Universal) and Inner Strong Limited (Inner Strong),\u00a0two POGOs<\/a> whose licences were revoked in October.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In February, POGOs<\/a> were ordered to register for the electronic reporting system managed by the AMLC.<\/strong> The decision followed an amendment to the Philippines\u2019 Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2001<\/strong> that includes real estate developers and brokers, and offshore gaming operators under the Act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new regulation<\/a> reads: \u201cThese persons and entities are required to report covered and suspicious transactions<\/strong> to the AMLC within the period prescribed and for the threshold amount fixed by the law.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Failure to register means \u201ca failure to electronically file covered and suspicious transaction reports with the AMLC, which is a\u00a0money laundering offence<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Philippines banks warned to work only with registered POGOs<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Central Bank of the Philippines has issued a warning about\u00a0unlicensed POGOs<\/a>. Chuchi Fonacier, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Deputy Governor<\/strong>, warned that BSP-regulated financial institutions (BSFI) should strictly comply with the requirements for customer due diligence, continuous monitoring and suspicious transaction reporting.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are currently 36 licensed POGO operators in The Philippines.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Smarc Group International, a POGO operator, has been added to the AMLC list of POGOs that have failed to cooperate with the regulator.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":18057,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Smarc Group International, a Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO), has had its registration revoked by the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) due to non-cooperation with compliance checking. This action follows similar revocations for MG Universal Link Limited and Inner Strong Limited, underscoring the Philippines' intensified regulatory enforcement of its amended Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2001, which now mandates POGOs to report covered and suspicious transactions electronically. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has concurrently warned financial institutions to strictly adhere to customer due diligence and suspicious transaction reporting requirements when dealing with POGOs.","focusai_entities":"Smarc Group International, AMLC, MG Universal Link Limited, Inner Strong Limited, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Chuchi Fonacier","focusai_location":"Philippines","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (1.0), operator_casino (0.9), affiliate_publisher (0.7), tech_data (0.7), payments_fraud_aml (1.0), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.8), journalist_researcher (1.0)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"POGO AML Reporting Requirements?","query":"What are the specific technical requirements and implementation timelines for POGOs to integrate with the AMLC's electronic reporting system, and what support mechanisms are available for compliance?"},{"label":"POGO Sector Economic Impact?","query":"How will the ongoing POGO revocations and heightened AML compliance impact the overall GGR contribution from the offshore gaming sector to the Philippine economy, and what are the long-term implications for foreign investment?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[156,16333],"tags":[23911,15789],"class_list":["post-24640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-regulation-news","category-south-east-asia-news","tag-gambling-regulation","tag-pogos"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24640","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=24640"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24640\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24647,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24640\/revisions\/24647"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}