{"id":777009483,"date":"2023-09-21T06:55:53","date_gmt":"2023-09-21T09:55:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777009483"},"modified":"2026-04-22T17:52:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T20:52:19","slug":"philippine-senate-committee-recommends-shutdown-of-pogos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/philippine-senate-committee-recommends-shutdown-of-pogos","title":{"rendered":"Philippine Senate Committee recommends shutdown of POGOs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The report cites concerns about the sector’s impact on the country’s economy and law enforcement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The Philippines.- Ten out of 18 members from the Committee on Ways and Means<\/strong> in the Philippine Senate have signed a report recommending the shutdown of Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs)<\/strong> within three months.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian<\/strong>, who chairs the committee, confirmed that the recommendation was included in a report submitted to the Senate. The report will be presented for deliberation in a plenary session. During this phase, senators will explore the possibility of an immediate ban or consider granting POGOs a three-month period to conclude their operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gatchalian stressed the risk of criminal activities associated with certain POGO companies. He has previously said\u00a0POGOs were being used as a \u201clegal cover\u201d by criminal syndicates<\/a>\u00a0to promote fake cryptocurrency investments and run illicit operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gatchalian is a fierce opponent of POGOs. In March, he released\u00a0a report based on an inquiry led by his committee and the Senate’s Committee on Economic Affairs<\/a>, which raised concerns about the influence of POGOs on certain law enforcement agencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (PAGCOR) recently required all POGOs to reapply for licences by September 17.\u00a0The new regulatory framework<\/a>\u00a0for offshore gaming licensees imposes stricter capital requirements and licence fees.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The report cites concerns about the sector’s impact on the country’s economy and law enforcement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":10356,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"A Philippine Senate committee has recommended the shutdown of Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) within three months, citing concerns over criminal activities and their impact on the economy and law enforcement. This recommendation, led by Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, will proceed to a plenary session for deliberation on an immediate ban or a phased cessation of operations, coinciding with PAGCOR's recent implementation of stricter licensing requirements.","focusai_entities":"Philippine Senate, Committee on Ways and Means, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, Committee on Economic Affairs, Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (PAGCOR), POGOs","focusai_location":"Philippines","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.95), regulator (0.98), compliance_legal (0.95), operator_casino (0.99), affiliate_publisher (0.75), tech_data (0.7), payments_fraud_aml (0.9), investor_analyst (0.97), supplier_vendor (0.9), journalist_researcher (0.95)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"POGO Economic Impact?","query":"What is the estimated economic impact, including potential job losses and revenue shortfalls, if the Philippine Senate proceeds with an immediate and complete ban on all POGOs?"},{"label":"Regulatory Framework Efficacy?","query":"How will PAGCOR's recently implemented stricter capital requirements and licensing fees for POGOs be enforced, and what mechanisms are in place to prevent the circumvention of these new regulatory compliance measures?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[154,158,16333],"tags":[23911,15789],"class_list":["post-777009483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legislation-news","category-slider-home","category-south-east-asia-news","tag-gambling-regulation","tag-pogos"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777009483","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=777009483"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777009483\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777041282,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777009483\/revisions\/777041282"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777009483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777009483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777009483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}