Philippines stops online gaming licensing

Local regulators have reassured that the Philippines won’t issue any further online gaming licences in order not to “overburden the industry.”

Philippines.- As they had already advanced, Philippine authorities want to slow down the iGaming segment. They won’t issue any more permits, in order to prevent the industry from an “overburden”.

The Philippines keeps growing and online gaming isn’t the exception, that’s why PAGCOR wanted to take necessary action.

As G2E Asia kicked off, PAGCOR chairwoman Andrea Domingo explained the decision. “We don’t want to overburden the industry by blatantly giving out licenses,” she said. “The President declared a ban on IRs and casinos in January 2018 and we have observed that. He lifted the ban in Clark last year and we have observed that too, but even the Clark region is saturated.”

“Even in Clark, we have stopped acceptance of any applications for new casinos,” she added.

The POGOs issue

There’s a major concern in the Philippines about gambling and, particularly, Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs). That’s why finance secretary Carlos Dominguez III has issued a warning to POGOs and their providers over tax evasion.

The official reminded that the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has already hit three operations with its task force. Moreover, it has collected €21.4 million in unpaid taxes from one of them.

“Basically we’re going hard against people who are evading taxes,” Dominguez said.