{"id":777021632,"date":"2024-12-19T09:42:13","date_gmt":"2024-12-19T12:42:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777021632"},"modified":"2026-04-22T03:08:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T06:08:00","slug":"24000-offshore-gaming-workers-reported-to-have-left-the-philippines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/24000-offshore-gaming-workers-reported-to-have-left-the-philippines","title":{"rendered":"24,000 offshore gaming workers reported to have left the Philippines"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Bureau of Immigration has reported that few foreign offshore gaming workers remain in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The Philippines.-\u00a0The Bureau of Immigration (BI)<\/strong>\u00a0has reported that approximately 24,000 of 33,000 registered foreign offshore gaming workers have left the Philippines. Immigration Commissioner Joel Anthony Viado<\/strong> said a further 8,000 workers had requested the downgrade of their visas. From December 31, remaining workers would be blacklisted, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“There are only a few left. Less than a thousand are unaccounted for. We will continue to seek them out,” Viado said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

See also: <\/strong>34 deported for alleged illegal gambling in the Philippines<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Philippines confirms closure of largest offshore gaming operator hub<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Authorities have confirmed that what\u2019s been described as the biggest offshore gaming operator compound in the Philippines is no longer operational. Operations ceased on November 30 and the site has now been inspected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) secretary Jonvic Remulla<\/strong>, along with presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) executive director under secretary Gilbert Cruz<\/strong>, PAGCOR chairman and CEO Alejandro Tengco<\/a> and Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Rommel Francisco Marbil<\/strong> visited the site on December 17 to check that it had been vacated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The compound has 57 buildings<\/strong>, including dormitories, caf\u00e9s, grocery stores, clinics, restaurants, spas and beauty salons. Some 30,000 people had been employed at the site, around half of them Filipinos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

See also: <\/strong>Philippines government fast-tracks acquisition of seized offshore gaming assets<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Bureau of Immigration has reported that few foreign offshore gaming workers remain in the country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":16906,"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 Philippine Bureau of Immigration reports a substantial reduction in foreign offshore gaming workers, with approximately 24,000 of 33,000 registered individuals having departed, alongside the cessation of operations at the nation's largest offshore gaming operator compound. These actions, involving multiple government agencies, signify an escalated regulatory enforcement posture against illegal POGO activities, impacting an estimated 30,000 employees and the broader iGaming ecosystem in the Philippines.","focusai_entities":"Bureau of Immigration, Joel Anthony Viado, Department of the Interior and Local Government, Jonvic Remulla, Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission, Gilbert Cruz, PAGCOR, Alejandro Tengco, Philippine National Police, Gen. Rommel Francisco Marbil","focusai_location":"Philippines","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (0.9), operator_casino (0.9), affiliate_publisher (0.7), payments_fraud_aml (0.7), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.8), journalist_researcher (1.0)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Economic Impact of POGO Exit?","query":"What is the projected economic impact of the POGO sector's contraction on the Philippine economy, particularly regarding real estate and employment, following the mass worker exodus and hub closures?"},{"label":"Future POGO Regulation Strategy?","query":"How will the Philippine government's strategy evolve regarding the regulation and potential re-licensing of offshore gaming operators, and what are the implications for B2B suppliers operating in the region?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16338,156],"tags":[4138],"class_list":["post-777021632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-east-asia-news","category-regulation-news","tag-online-gambling"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777021632","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=777021632"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777021632\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777021657,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777021632\/revisions\/777021657"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777021632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777021632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777021632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}