Philippines would limit casino transactions

Under the anti-money laundering law in Philippines, casino transactions near US$100,000 would be controlled.

Philippines.- As Philippines legislators have passed the Anti-Money laundering House Bill (HB) 5663, casino transactions would be controlled by the government. According to the Manila Times, gaming payments and bets above US$100,000 would be registered and evaluated by Pagcor and the financial governmental entity, Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC).

As experts explained, casino regulators would also register bets near US$20,000 to US$80,000 deposited by the same player throughout a same week or month. The restriction amendment was presented last week by Rep. Ben Evardone of Eastern Samar, chairman of the House Committee on Banks and Financial Intermediaries.

“If you went to a casino and bought US$100,000 worth of chips in a single transaction, that’s a red flag that must be reported by the casino to the AMLC. Yes, US$100,000 is the threshold but if there is a pattern, like if I bring US$20,000 today, then US$30,000 tomorrow, and so on… that pattern must also be reported to the AMLC,” said the official.

“You can’t use such pattern of breaking down the threshold amount as an excuse because that will be evading the law. It’s the same for banks,” Evardone added. “As it is, casinos just require passport for identification. It should be more than that. Pagcor should have a regulation in place for that. You can’t know everything about your customer just through a passport.”