Crackdown on illegal operations continues in the Philippines

A recent deal between the Department of Finance and POGOs will help the Philippines crackdown on illegal operators.

Philippines.- A Philippine offshore gaming operations (POGO) industry source has discussed a recent deal with the Department of Finance (DOF) and said that it will help authorities to crack down on illegal online gaming outlets.

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III confirmed on Monday night that the government and industry operators agreed on a framework that will pave the way for waged of over 100k Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (PAGCOR) Chinese workers in the industry to align with Philippine income tax laws.

“Once all our legal employees receive their documents from the Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Bureau of Immigration, it will be easy to clamp down on unregistered operations, because everyone without proper documents will be illegal.” said the industry source, as reported by Inquirer.

“We met twice with the biggest POGO operator and told him that he and the rest of the operators have to comply with the provisions of the law,” said Dominguez. He added that local regulations call for a tax levy on the income earned by all their employees, whether foreigners or locals.

The taxes collected from the POGO industry will bring in approximately P24 billion a year. This was non-existent before 2016 when PAGCOR set the regulations for the online gaming industry.

PAGCOR asks POGOs to comply with regulations

Last month, PAGCOR warned POGOs to comply with current laws and regulations. The regulator also ordered POGOs to strictly pay proper taxes due to government.

The warning comes as the Philippine government intensifies its monitoring and enforcement measures. Jose Tria Jr., special assistant to the PAGCOR chairman, said: “Let this serve as a final warning for everyone to strictly comply with all the rules, regulations and directives of all other government agencies which may have jurisdiction over the other aspects of your operations.” PAGCOR continues with its attempts to enforce local regulations.