In its July report, the watchdog said the Philippines had addressed gaps in checks conducted on casinos supervised by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (PAGCOR). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said: “PAGCOR, for casinos, and the Anti-Money Laundering Council, for all designated non-financial business and professions, have continued to develop their frameworks for risk-based anti-money laundering\/combatting the financing of terrorism supervision.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before the update, the Philippines had been advised to reassessment some issues classified as partial compliance<\/strong>. One was that the qualification process associated with PAGCOR licensees covered only directors and not shareholders or beneficial owners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, the watchdog said since the mutual evaluation report, PAGCOR has issued and approved additional probity check guidelines effective since January 27. The updated list of individuals subject to fit and proper requirements and required to provide a personal disclosure statement to PAGCOR included management functions\/officers, shareholders holding at least 20 per cent ownership or with significant controlling interest, and beneficial owners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The APG said: \u201cThese provisions enable PAGCOR to prevent criminals or their associates from holding significant or controlling interest, beneficial ownership, a management function or from operating a casino.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The commendation comes after the announcement in June that the Philippines would remain on\u00a0the FATF’s “grey list” of untrustworthy jurisdictions<\/a>. In June,\u00a0the International Monetary Fund (IMF)<\/a>\u00a0issued a report that classed the Philippine casino industry as a \u201cmoderate\u201d risk to the country\u2019s international reputation in terms of anti-money laundering (AML) and combatting the financing of terrorism (CFT).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Prior to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Philippines had a significant and growing casino and online gaming industry. Speaking to Focus Gaming News about\u00a0a possible competitor to Macau<\/a>\u00a0for its title as the \u2018Las Vegas of Asia\u2019, seasoned industry observers at Global Betting & Gaming Consultants (GBGC) highlighted the Philippines as \u201cthe most serious contender\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c[The Philippines] has developed several integrated resorts to rival Macau.\u201d the sources said. \u201cIt has also recently allowed licence holders to begin online gaming operations, which is an advantage over Macau\u2019s concessions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Authorities in The Philippines have reported that gross gaming revenue in the second quarter of the year came in at PHP45.89bn (US$824.2m). That\u2019s a rise of was up 40.1 per cent quarter-on-quarter<\/a> and 144 pr cent year-on-year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Manila\u2019s Entertainment City <\/strong>casino resorts generated PHP37.01bn in GGR, accounting for 80.6 per cent of all GGR. The figure was up 37.6 per cent quarter-on-quarter and up 152.3 per cent when compared to last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Casinos in the Clark Freeport Zone<\/strong> generated PHP4.75bn GGR, up from PHP3.01bn in the first quarter. PAGCOR-operated casinos reported aggregate revenue (excluding in-house bingo- was PHP3.79bn, up 45.4 per cent quarter-on-quarter.<\/p>\n\r\n\t\tPhilippines GGR up 144% for Q2<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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