{"id":777003585,"date":"2023-03-22T12:58:18","date_gmt":"2023-03-22T15:58:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777003585"},"modified":"2026-04-22T23:31:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T02:31:09","slug":"philippine-casino-sector-needs-stronger-aml-controls-watchdog-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/philippine-casino-sector-needs-stronger-aml-controls-watchdog-says","title":{"rendered":"Philippine casino sector needs stronger AML controls, watchdog says"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Philippines’ Anti-Money Laundering Council has called for stronger anti-money laundering controls in the junket system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The Philippines.- The Philippines\u2019 Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) <\/strong>has issued a report highlighting the “inherent vulnerability” of the junket system in the casino sector to money laundering and terrorism financing risks. It found that players’ use of physical cash and some junket operators’ non-reporting of suspicious transactions contributed to the vulnerability of high-risk integrated resorts<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report analysed over 7,400 suspicious transaction reports<\/strong> related to casino junkets and identified four notable types of activity that could be linked to either money laundering or terrorism financing: junkets’ non-reporting of transactions to casino operators, involvement in criminal conspiracy, purchase of chips with small-denomination currency followed by modest gambling actions and conduct of financial transactions not commensurate with declared sources of funds. to money-laundering risks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The AMLC used two sets of data for its analysis. The first comprised 3,308 suspicious transaction reports filed by various institutions between September 2018 and January 2023, containing the keyword \u2018junket\u2019 in the narrative field. These transactions had an aggregate value of PHP17.79bn (US$325.8m). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second set included 4,110 suspicious transaction reports filed from December 2021 to September 2022 by the four integrated resorts in the Philippines labelled by the local authorities as having the \u201chighest risk\u201d for money laundering or terrorism financing. The names of the four properties were not disclosed. This sample comprised transactions with an aggregate value of PHP17.59bn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In February, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) decided to keep the Philippines<\/strong> on its \u201cgrey list\u201d of untrustworthy jurisdictions<\/a>. The anti-money laundering compliance watchdog acknowledged the Philippines<\/strong>\u2018 high-level political commitment to work with the FATF and the Asia\/Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG) to improve the effectiveness of its AML measures. However, it said the Philippines must continue implementing its action plan <\/strong>to address strategic deficiencies. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Philippines’ Anti-Money Laundering Council has called for stronger anti-money laundering controls in the junket system.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":20663,"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' Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) has identified significant vulnerabilities within the casino junket system to money laundering and terrorism financing, citing issues like cash use and non-reporting of suspicious transactions. This report, based on over 7,400 suspicious transaction reports, comes as the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) maintains the Philippines on its 'grey list' for strategic AML deficiencies, underscoring the urgent need for enhanced regulatory compliance and governance frameworks within the gaming vertical.","focusai_entities":"Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC), Financial Action Task Force (FATF), Asia\/Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG)","focusai_location":"Philippines","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (1.0), operator_casino (0.95), tech_data (0.7), payments_fraud_aml (1.0), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.75), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Junket AML Impact?","query":"What specific operational and financial impacts are anticipated for integrated resort operators in the Philippines due to the AMLC's findings and the FATF's continued grey-listing, particularly concerning B2B licensing and governance frameworks for junket partnerships?"},{"label":"Regulatory Compliance Evolution?","query":"How will the AMLC's recommendations and the FATF's action plan necessitate an evolution in regulatory compliance and suspicious transaction reporting (STR) protocols for casino operators, and what are the implications for technology and data infrastructure?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[156,16333],"tags":[23911],"class_list":["post-777003585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-regulation-news","category-south-east-asia-news","tag-gambling-regulation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777003585","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=777003585"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777003585\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777003615,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777003585\/revisions\/777003615"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777003585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777003585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777003585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}