Gambling in the Philippines to undergo review

In the Philippines all land based and online casinos are controlled by a state monopoly called The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (Pagcor). They are the only group with rights to license and operate casinos across the country. They have recently announced that they are putting a temporary hold on issuing new casino licenses and that they shall be conducting a review of the current license holders.

The announcement comes after the new President, Benigno Aquino III, expressed his desire to control the growth of gambling within the country. IThere have been suggestions that Pagcor was too relaxed about the way it handed out licenses.

Pagcor spokesman Jay Santiago said, “Pagcor is currently preparing rules of procedure and guidelines that will govern new licenses as well as current licenses”. 

The review will look at existing casinos and other gambling institutions, they shall also be asking any casino which is operating outside of normal tourist areas to relocate. Philippine gambling laws do not prevent locals from playing in the casinos on any level, however, since most of the revenue comes from tourists, Pagcor want to optimise their income.

Santiago went on to say that, “We will impose the requirement that their operations should be in tourist destinations only,”

The review is also expected to see Pagcor officials consider the possibility of licensing online gaming centres. These would operate like internet cafes and would provide access to online gambling sites within the Philippines. Strangely enough, Pagcor’s online gambling websites are only available to players from the Philippines, therefore if these gambling internet cafes are going to attract tourists, they will have to start providing access to gambling websites that are hosted in other countries where foreign players are welcomed.