{"id":777045167,"date":"2026-07-21T09:51:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T12:51:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777045167"},"modified":"2026-07-21T10:54:49","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T13:54:49","slug":"pagcor-orders-casinos-to-strengthen-aml-controls-after-high-risk-assessment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/pagcor-orders-casinos-to-strengthen-aml-controls-after-high-risk-assessment","title":{"rendered":"PAGCOR orders casinos to strengthen AML controls after high-risk assessment"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The regulator has instructed casino operators and gaming service providers to reinforce their AML and counter-terrorism financing frameworks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>The Philippines.- The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) has ordered all licensed casino operators and gaming service providers to <strong>review and strengthen<\/strong> their anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorism financing (CTF) controls. The instruction follows the findings of its latest <strong>Casino Sector Risk Assessment<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Covering the period from 2021 to 2024, the assessment classified the casino sector as <strong>high risk for money laundering<\/strong> and <strong>medium to medium-high risk for terrorism financing<\/strong>. PAGCOR attributed the money laundering risk to large cash transactions, high-risk customers and intermediaries, multi-channel operations and uneven implementation of compliance controls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The regulator identified both land-based casinos and electronic gaming operations as <strong>vulnerable<\/strong>. Land-based venues were considered particularly exposed due to their cash-intensive nature, foreign patronage and VIP and junket activity, while electronic gaming faces risks linked to its rapid growth, high transaction volumes and remote operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>PAGCOR has instructed operators to strengthen customer due diligence, source-of-funds verification, transaction monitoring and suspicious transaction reporting and to ensure the assessment is shared with directors, senior management, compliance officers and frontline staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Although no confirmed terrorism financing cases involving PAGCOR-regulated casinos were identified during the review, the regulator warned that the sector remains exposed to proceeds from crimes. PAGCOR said it will assess operators&#8217; implementation of new measures, with inadequate compliance potentially leading to administrative sanctions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n<div id=\"see-also-container\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"see-also-label\">See also:<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"related-article\">\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"related-article__thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/07\/new-law-in-cambodia-involving-casinos-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\"><\/p>\n<p class=\"related-article__text\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"see-also-label-strong\">See also:<\/span> <a href='https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/cambodias-casino-regulator-reviews-measures-to-strengthen-industry-oversight'>Cambodia&#8217;s casino regulator reviews measures to strengthen industry oversight<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The regulator has instructed casino operators and gaming service providers to reinforce their AML and counter-terrorism financing frameworks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":680,"featured_media":16426,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"PAGCOR has mandated all licensed casino operators and gaming service providers in the Philippines to reinforce their AML and CTF frameworks. This directive follows a Casino Sector Risk Assessment classifying the sector as high risk for money laundering and medium-high for terrorism financing, citing vulnerabilities in both land-based and electronic gaming operations. Operators must enhance due diligence, transaction monitoring, and reporting to mitigate risks, with non-compliance potentially leading to administrative sanctions.","focusai_entities":"Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR), casino operators, gaming service providers","focusai_location":"The Philippines","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (1.0), operator_casino (1.0), product_ux (0.7), tech_data (0.8), marketing_crm (0.7), payments_fraud_aml (1.0), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.8), journalist_researcher (1.0)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"PAGCOR's AML Impact","query":"What specific operational and technological investments will be required for Philippine-licensed operators to achieve full compliance with PAGCOR's enhanced AML\/CTF directives, particularly concerning VIP and electronic gaming verticals?"},{"label":"Sanction Risk Analysis","query":"How might PAGCOR's administrative sanctions framework evolve in response to non-compliance with these new AML\/CTF mandates, and what precedent does this set for future regulatory enforcement in the Philippine iGaming sector?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[24628,156,158,16333],"tags":[25001,405,24804],"class_list":["post-777045167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-highlight-of-the-week","category-regulation-news","category-slider-home","category-south-east-asia-news","tag-aml-ctf","tag-pagcor","tag-the-philippines"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777045167","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=777045167"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777045167\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777045177,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777045167\/revisions\/777045177"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777045167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777045167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777045167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}