{"id":777024723,"date":"2025-04-01T09:22:56","date_gmt":"2025-04-01T12:22:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777024723"},"modified":"2026-04-22T00:15:49","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T03:15:49","slug":"paocc-says-947-foreign-offshore-gaming-workers-still-awaiting-deportation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/paocc-says-947-foreign-offshore-gaming-workers-still-awaiting-deportation","title":{"rendered":"PAOCC says 947 foreign offshore gaming workers still awaiting deportation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Operations against offshore gaming operators have been suspended due to overcrowding in detention facilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The Philippines.- Winston Casio<\/strong>, an official from the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC), has reported that 947 foreign offshore gaming operator workers <\/strong>are in the agency’s detention facility in Pasay waiting to be deported. Law enforcement operations against an estimated 9,000 illegal offshore gaming workers have been put on hold due to overcrowding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to The Philippine Star, Casio said that 29 Indonesians were deported on Saturday (29 March) and more deportations are expected in the coming days. He said the government is considering utilising an additional building in Pasay, which is currently undergoing forfeiture proceedings.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"PAOCC
PAOCC spokesperson Winston Casio.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

In addition to overcrowding in detention centres, the detention of offshore gaming workers costs the government money to provide medical and dental care, medication and laboratory services to those in need. The government allocates PHP2m (US$34,900) monthly <\/strong>for food and medical supplies for the detained workers. Those who can pay for their own hospitalisation are sent to private hospitals for emergencies, accompanied by PAOCC personnel, Bureau of Jail Management and Penology officers, and private security guards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BI bans layovers in deportations of offshore gaming workers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Bureau of Immigration (BI)\u00a0has banned\u00a0deportation flights with layovers\u00a0<\/strong>for foreign offshore gaming workers. Under BI\u00a0Board of Commissioners Resolution No. 2025-002<\/strong>, deported foreign nationals with alleged links to offshore gaming operators must be placed on direct flights to their countries of origin unless a direct route from the Philippines is unavailable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BI commissioner Joel Viado<\/strong> said this policy aims to close \u201ca critical loophole\u201d that foreign offshore gaming workers previously exploited. He said: \u201cThis is a firm step in strengthening our deportation procedures.\u201d He said the move would lower opportunities for those deported to expand operations in other countries in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n

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

See also:<\/span> Philippine authorities raid alleged illegal gambling operation in Makati City<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Operations against offshore gaming operators have been suspended due to overcrowding in detention facilities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":13530,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Operations against illegal offshore gaming operators in the Philippines have been suspended due to severe overcrowding and high costs associated with detaining foreign workers. Concurrently, the Bureau of Immigration has implemented a new policy banning layovers for deportation flights of foreign offshore gaming workers to prevent them from re-establishing operations in other regional jurisdictions.","focusai_entities":"Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission, PAOCC, Winston Casio, The Philippine Star, Bureau of Immigration, BI, Joel Viado","focusai_location":"Philippines, Pasay, Makati City, Indonesia","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (0.9), operator_casino (0.8), investor_analyst (0.8), supplier_vendor (0.7), payments_fraud_aml (0.7), journalist_researcher (1.0)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Enforcement Capability Impact?","query":"What are the long-term implications of suspending operations against illegal offshore gaming operators on the Philippines' regulatory enforcement capabilities and the integrity of its gaming market?"},{"label":"BI Policy Effectiveness?","query":"How effective is the Bureau of Immigration's new direct-flight deportation policy expected to be in preventing the re-establishment of illegal offshore gaming operations in other regional jurisdictions?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[439,16333],"tags":[23911,4138,15789],"class_list":["post-777024723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legal-news","category-south-east-asia-news","tag-gambling-regulation","tag-online-gambling","tag-pogos"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777024723","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=777024723"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777024723\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777024734,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777024723\/revisions\/777024734"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777024723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777024723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777024723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}