Philippines to privatise casinos operated by Pagcor

The government has started the privatisation of the casinos operated by the official regulator.

Philippines.- The Department of Finance (DOF) announced that the government started the privatisation of casinos operated by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor), and that they’re expecting to finish the process in late 2017.

Loren Legarda, chair of the Senate committee on finance, was the one who defended the agency’s proposed budget for next year. Senate President Pro Tempore Franklin Drilon questioned the government’s view of the proposal to remove Pagcor from its operator function and make the entity just a regulator.

“Again I would advise the DOF that you don’t need legislation of Congress on this. Again this is delegated to the President and if the policy is to remove the operating function of Pagcor and just limit Pagcor to licensing because this is the better policy and this is actually the situation in many countries where there is a gaming industry,” said Drilon.

Legarda reassured that Pagcor will continue as a regulator and that they already started privatising five state casinos. They believe that they will finish the privatisation by the third quarter next year: