Government agencies banned from Philippine casinos

President Rodrigo Duterte ordered PAGCOR’s CEO to ban government officials from both playing and staying in casinos in the Philippines.

The Philippines.- President Rodrigo Duterte ordered Andrea Domingo, recently appointed CEO of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (PAGCOR), to implement Presidential Decree No. 1067-B, which bans government officials and members of the Philippine Armed Forces and Philippine National Police and all the agencies directly involved with government operations, from both playing and staying in casinos.

Furthermore, Duterte said that the ban would also include family members of all of the above mentioned and individuals under 21 years old and students attending any Philippine school, college, or university.

Earlier in July and only hours after being sworn in as the country’s 16th President, Duterte vowed to stop the proliferation of online gambling in the Philippines, saying that “sometime” soon he would be directing Andrea Domingo, who Duterte selected in May to head PAGCOR, to rescind existing online gambling licenses. Duterte explained that the difficulty in taxing online gambling was the main reason for his decision.