{"id":777021468,"date":"2024-12-12T08:35:23","date_gmt":"2024-12-12T11:35:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777021468"},"modified":"2026-04-22T03:21:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T06:21:08","slug":"offshore-gaming-operators-will-never-be-allowed-to-ravage-our-country-again-philippine-president-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/offshore-gaming-operators-will-never-be-allowed-to-ravage-our-country-again-philippine-president-says","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Offshore gaming operators will never be allowed to ravage our country again,&#8221; Philippine president says"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">President Marcos Jr has warned of legal consequences for anyone who tries to ignore the ban on offshore gaming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Philippines.- President <strong>Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.<\/strong> has warned that anyone who tries to ignore the incoming <a href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/president-marcos-issues-executive-order-banning-offshore-gambling-operators-in-the-philippines\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ban on offshore gaming<\/a> will be prosecuted. Writing on social media after a meeting with a task force charged with shutting offshore gaming operators, he said: &#8220;All the licenses of offshore gaming and IGL operators nationwide have been cancelled. They will never be allowed to ravage our country again. Anyone who will conduct illegal operations will face the full force of the law.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to <strong>Alejandro H. Tengco<\/strong>, chairman and CEO of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (PAGCOR), only 17 licensed offshore gaming operators remained active earlier this week, 16 of which have regular licences from PAGCOR. From January 1, the licences will be deemed expired. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Bureau of Immigration (BI)\u00a0reported that approximately\u00a020,000 foreign offshore gaming workers are expected to leave the country by December 31. By November 7, 21,757 foreign nationals linked to offshore gaming operators had voluntarily changed their work visas to temporary visitor visas and 10,821 had already left the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Philippine senator repeats call for local governments to check for illegal offshore gaming<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Senator<strong>\u00a0Sherwin Gatchalian<\/strong>\u00a0has said local government units (LGUs) will play \u201ca crucial role\u201d in enforcing a ban on offshore gaming operators. Gatchalian has called on LGUs to monitor activities in their areas, especially gatherings of foreign nationals that might signal offshore gaming operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He said some operators had split into smaller groups to avoid detection, citing\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/illegal-gambling-in-the-philippines-59-arrested-in-davao-del-norte\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">a recent raid in Panabo City, Davao del Norte<\/a>, where workers were moved after a hub in Metro Manila was shut down. He warned that LGU officials who do not act against illegal offshore gaming operators could face legal consequences, citing the case of Jaime Capil, the former mayor of Pampanga, Porac, who was suspended for alleged neglect of duty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Gatchalian also called for cooperation among LGUs, law enforcement agencies, the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority, the Authority of the Freeport Area of Bataan and PAGCOR.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>President Marcos Jr has warned of legal consequences for anyone who tries to ignore the ban on offshore gaming.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"President Marcos Jr. has affirmed the Philippines' ban on offshore gaming, with all licenses for such operators cancelled and set to expire by January 1, 2024. This directive includes warnings of prosecution for non-compliant entities and mandates the departure of approximately 20,000 foreign workers. Senator Sherwin Gatchalian emphasizes the critical role of Local Government Units in enforcing the ban and monitoring illegal operations, citing potential legal consequences for officials failing to act.","focusai_entities":"Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (PAGCOR), Alejandro H. Tengco, Bureau of Immigration (BI), Sherwin Gatchalian, Local Government Units (LGUs), Jaime Capil, Cagayan Economic Zone Authority, Authority of the Freeport Area of Bataan","focusai_location":"Philippines, Panabo City, Davao del Norte, Metro Manila, Pampanga, Porac","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (1.0), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (1.0), operator_casino (1.0), affiliate_publisher (0.8), tech_data (0.7), payments_fraud_aml (0.9), investor_analyst (1.0), supplier_vendor (1.0), journalist_researcher (1.0)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Economic Impact Assessment","query":"What is the projected economic impact on the Philippines' GDP and employment figures following the complete cessation of offshore gaming operations and the departure of foreign workers?"},{"label":"Regulatory Enforcement Efficacy","query":"How will PAGCOR and other agencies ensure comprehensive enforcement against fragmented illegal offshore gaming operations, particularly concerning cross-jurisdictional challenges and the potential for underground market proliferation?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[439,158,16333],"tags":[23911,20326,4138],"class_list":["post-777021468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-legal-news","category-slider-home","category-south-east-asia-news","tag-gambling-regulation","tag-illegal-gambling","tag-online-gambling"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777021468","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=777021468"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777021468\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777021477,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777021468\/revisions\/777021477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777021468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777021468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777021468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}