Philippines Online Gambling News
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It is not so good news for the online gambling operators of the South-East Asian country Philippines. There is a growing pressure on the Philippines to placate China and there is a possibility that the Government may put a ban on the online gambling sector. The government is weighing in all the options to ban and currently understanding the financial impact of it.
- The Philippines Amusement and Gaming Corp (PAGCOR) is studying a proposal to allow land-based casinos accept bets online as operators and the government seek ways to mitigate losses due to Covid-19. The market regulator said in an email response to Asia Gaming Brief that it had received the request from operators in the country during the crisis.
- MANILA - A boom in online gaming is fueling the influx of Chinese workers to the Philippines in the past couple of months, an immigration spokeswoman said Saturday.
- (READ: EXPLAINER: How online casinos hit the jackpot in the Philippines) IT-BPM estimated yearly salaries is at P400 billion, while annual office rental is at P66 billion.
Benjamin Diokno, Chairman of Anti-Money Laundering Council and Governor of National Central Bank, has announced that his team is being tasked to understand the financial impact if and when POGO or Philippines Offshore Gaming Operator sector is closed. The efforts are being made to understand the impact on the larger picture and economy. The primary efforts are to understand the impact on Real Estate, Food Industry, and Non-Gaming Sectors, in case of a sudden call to pack up POGO.
The Real Estate Sector of the Philippines has increased five times since 2016 and is now expanded to 1.1 square meters. However, a softer landing has now been decided by many property firms in case, there is sudden closure.
Philippines Amusement and Gaming Corporations (PAGCOR) has already announced a moratorium on the new POGO Applications early in August. However, two applications which were pending were approved last week. At present, the Philippines has 60 POGO licenses and among them 48 are active.
Chinese Impact
Philippines Online Gambling News
China has been asking the Philippines to ban online gambling. The customers of these online gambling are majorly Chinese and thousands of thousands of Mandarin-speaking Chinese Nationals are hired to serve the customers. President Rodrigo Duterte of Philippines has arrived in China on Wednesday and would speak at length with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping. Even though the major topics of discussion are going to be around the territorial dispute near the South China Sea, but the growing concerns of Chinese Nationals will be spoken as well.
There are many cases where Chinese National who are being kidnapped by Loan Sharks after the Gambling debts at various Manila Casinos. This is one of the growing concerns for China. The Philippines National Police Anti Kidnapping Group (PNP-KNG) announced intensified and stronger actions against these kidnappings.
With the assistance of the Chinese Government, some of the officers of PNP-KNG are being trained in Mandarin and Cantonese to understand and communicate better with the victims. On Tuesday, four Chinese Nationals were also arrested while attempting to kidnap a Chinese Gambler, who borrowed some amount of money. When the loan sharks were dragging him out, the security of the casino in Paranaque City alerted PNP-KNG, and the loan sharks were arrested.
Source:https://calvinayre.com/2019/08/27/business/philippines-studying-economic-impact-online-gambling-halt/
© Provided by InterAksyonPhilippines Online Gambling News Today
Philippine high rollers will soon be allowed to place bets in the comfort of their own homes after the gaming regulator allowed integrated resort casinos to offer online gambling to partially recoup billions of dollars of lost revenues amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The Philippines is the first in the region to introduce such a move, which is part of slew of online gambling projects to attract Filipinos and, later on, foreigners to place bets and generate much-needed revenue for the government.
Anti-virus measures have seen casinos close for months and kept gamblers away.
Online gambling, which will be exclusively for Filipino high rollers, may begin as early as this month, said Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp Chairman Andrea Domingo.
“It would be good to collect revenues and stop illegal gambling because there’s a lot of illegal gambling on social media,” Domingo said in the Asia Gaming Brief virtual forum.
Bloomberry Resorts Corp and another casino operator north of the capital have earlier secured the regulator’s approval to take online bets.
Philippines Online Gambling News Articles
Integrated resort casinos like Okada Manila and City of Dreams of Hong Kong’s Melco Resorts & Entertainment, both in the capital Manila, have also applied for license to offer online gambling.
Filipino VIPs account for around 10% to 15% of casinos’ revenues, said Mark Gilbert, an online gaming consultant.
Gross gaming revenues of the Philippine gaming sector plunged 60% to 73 billion pesos ($1.5 billion) in January to September versus the same period in 2019, data from the gaming regulator showed.
The government has been gradually easing coronavirus curbs. It allowed to casinos in the capital to reopen at 30% capacity in September.
The gaming regulator, which is directly under President Rodrigo Duterte’s office, is waiting to get approval to regulate online cockfighting.
($1 = 48.05 Philippine pesos) —Reporting by Neil Jerome Morales; Additional Reporting by Farah Master in Hong Kong; Editing by Kim Coghill