{"id":777023769,"date":"2025-03-06T06:35:22","date_gmt":"2025-03-06T09:35:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777023769"},"modified":"2026-04-22T01:08:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T04:08:16","slug":"philippine-president-would-not-hesitate-to-ban-inland-online-gaming-operators","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/philippine-president-would-not-hesitate-to-ban-inland-online-gaming-operators","title":{"rendered":"Philippine president “would not hesitate” to ban inland online gaming operators"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The government has launched a study to assess the effects of PIGOs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The Philippines.- President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. <\/strong>could impose a ban on Philippine Inland Gaming Operators (PIGOs)<\/strong> if they are found to be causing issues similar to those that led to the shutdown of offshore gaming operators. Claire Castro<\/strong>, undersecretary of the presidential communications office, made the statement after senate president\u00a0Francis G. Escudero<\/strong> called for a cost-benefit analysis<\/a> to ascertain whether PIGO licences\u00a0should continue.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Presidential
Presidential communications undersecretary and palace press officer Claire Castro. Source: Office of the President of the Philippines.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Castro said the government is monitoring the situation and conducting studies to evaluate the effects of PIGOs and would make comparisons with the operations of offshore gaming operators to identify any emerging problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Castro said that “for now, the study shows that PIGOs have yet to cause or produce crimes” and emphasised that while offshore gaming operators typically hire foreign workers, PIGOs employ mostly Filipinos, with 90 per cent of their workforce being local.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She also highlighted the economic contributions of PIGO. She said that, unlike offshore gaming operators, PIGOs contribute positively to the Philippine economy through tax revenues and local marketing expenditures. However, Castro said: “If what happened to offshore gaming operators also happens to PIGOs, the President would not hesitate to impose a total ban as well on PIGOs, but of course it will be based on data.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PAGCOR says some illegal Philippine offshore gaming operators remain active<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) has warned that some illegal offershore gaming operators remain active in the Philippines but that all previously licensed operators have shut. Responding to questions from deputy minority leader\u00a0Risa Hontiveros<\/strong>\u00a0during a Senate hearing, assistant vice president\u00a0Jessa Fernandez<\/strong>\u00a0said all 42 licenses and 18 authorised service providers had been cancelled and 304 operating sites closed since the ban on offshore gaming came into effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fernandez said, \u201cWe are continuing the raids to ensure their closure. We also provide information whenever we receive reports that there are legal operations around Metro Manila or in other nearby provinces or cities. We report this to the law enforcement agencies so that they can also operate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, PAGCOR senior vice president Raul Villanueva<\/strong> said some operators have splintered into smaller illegal groups, setting up operations inside residential subdivisions and urban peripheries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said: \u201cWe have observed that they have moved into smaller groups operating in residential areas. Unlike before, when we could inspect sites at any hour, we now face restrictions and need coordination with local government units, business permits offices and building administrators.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fernandez said PAGCOR had issued 61 PIGO licences so far and would provide a list to the Senate for review.<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n

See also:<\/span> Ban on offshore gaming key to Philippines\u2019 removal from FATF grey list, government says<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The government has launched a study to assess the effects of PIGOs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":14536,"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 government is conducting a cost-benefit analysis of Philippine Inland Gaming Operators (PIGOs) to assess their societal impact, with President Marcos Jr. prepared to impose a total ban if issues similar to those of offshore gaming operators emerge. Concurrently, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) continues to combat illegal offshore gaming operations, which have splintered into smaller, harder-to-monitor groups following the official ban.","focusai_entities":"Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., Claire Castro, Francis G. Escudero, PAGCOR, Jessa Fernandez, Risa Hontiveros, Raul Villanueva, Presidential Communications Office, Office of the President of the Philippines, Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation, Senate, FATF","focusai_location":"Philippines, Metro Manila","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.95), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (0.9), operator_casino (0.95), payments_fraud_aml (0.75), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.85), journalist_researcher (0.98)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"PIGO Study Metrics?","query":"What specific economic and social impact metrics are being utilized in the government's cost-benefit analysis of PIGOs, and what is the projected timeline for the study's completion and policy recommendations?"},{"label":"Illegal Operations Enforcement?","query":"Given the observed splintering of illegal offshore gaming operators into residential areas, what enhanced enforcement strategies and inter-agency coordination frameworks is PAGCOR implementing to effectively address these clandestine operations?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[24628,156,16333],"tags":[4138],"class_list":["post-777023769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-highlight-of-the-week","category-regulation-news","category-south-east-asia-news","tag-online-gambling"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777023769","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=777023769"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777023769\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777023790,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777023769\/revisions\/777023790"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777023769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777023769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777023769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}