{"id":777029637,"date":"2025-07-29T10:36:18","date_gmt":"2025-07-29T13:36:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777029637"},"modified":"2026-04-21T20:34:03","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T23:34:03","slug":"the-philippines-considers-fee-hike-for-online-gambling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/the-philippines-considers-fee-hike-for-online-gambling","title":{"rendered":"The Philippines considers fee hike for online gambling"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Finance secretary Ralph Recto says licence fees may rise to 40 per cent of gross gaming revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The Philippines.- Finance secretary Ralph Recto has said that the government is considering raising the licence fee for online gambling from the current 25 per cent of gross gaming revenue (GGR) to as high as 40 per cent. The proposal is part of a strategy to generate PHP200bn (US$3.42bn) in gaming-related revenue in 2025 between land-based and online platforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recto said several fee structures are under review, including possible 30, 35, or 40 per cent rates. \u201cWe\u2019re studying that because if it\u2019s too high, it might lead to a rise in illegal operations,\u201d he cautioned. He estimates that 60 per cent of gambling activity in the Philippines is currently illegal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Ralph
Ralph Recto, finance secretary.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Department of Health\u2019s has classified online gambling as a public health concern and lawmakers have expressed frustration that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. did not mention the issue<\/a> in his recent State of the Nation Address despite growing calls for reforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recto said the President is \u201cconcerned\u201d and that new regulations are in the works. Potential measures include limiting betting hours, raising minimum cash-in thresholds, removing gambling links from mobile wallets and enhancing coordination with PAGCOR and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite pressure from some legislators to impose an outright ban, Recto warned that doing so would push activity underground.<\/a> \u201cIf you ban, 100 per cent will become illegal. It\u2019s a balancing act,\u201d he said. \u201cMy advice: don\u2019t gamble. But if people do, it\u2019s better to regulate than drive them to the black market.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\n\t\t\tSee also:<\/span><\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tSee also:<\/span> Philippine president makes no mention of online gambling in state of the nation speech<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Finance secretary Ralph Recto says licence fees may rise to 40 per cent of gross gaming revenue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":680,"featured_media":16885,"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 considering a significant increase in online gambling license fees, potentially raising the Gross Gaming Revenue (GGR) share from 25% to as high as 40%. This move aims to generate PHP200bn (US$3.42bn) in gaming-related revenue by 2025, alongside new regulatory measures to address public health concerns and combat illegal operations.","focusai_entities":"Ralph Recto, Department of Health, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., PAGCOR, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP)","focusai_location":"Philippines","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.95), regulator (0.98), compliance_legal (0.9), operator_casino (0.99), product_ux (0.75), marketing_crm (0.7), payments_fraud_aml (0.85), investor_analyst (0.97), supplier_vendor (0.75), journalist_researcher (0.95)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Impact on Operator Profitability?","query":"What is the projected EBITDA margin compression for licensed iGaming operators in the Philippines if the GGR fee increases to 40%, considering current operational cost structures?"},{"label":"Regulatory Enforcement Strategy?","query":"How will PAGCOR and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas enhance coordination to effectively enforce new regulations and mitigate the anticipated rise in illegal gambling activity if fees are increased?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[154,16333],"tags":[4138,337,24738,24804],"class_list":["post-777029637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legislation-news","category-south-east-asia-news","tag-online-gambling","tag-regulation","tag-taxation","tag-the-philippines"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777029637","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\/680"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777029637"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777029637\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777029658,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777029637\/revisions\/777029658"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777029637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777029637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777029637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}