PAGCOR Plays Down the Impact of Philippine’s igaming Industry on China

The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) has played down the impact of the country’s online gambling industry on China amid heightening tensions.

Victor Padilla, senior manager of PAGCOR’s policy and offshore gaming licensing division, was speaking during the House budget hearing on the agency’s 2020 budget just days after Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said that the Philippines should “ban all online gambling.”

Padilla claimed that Philippines-licensed sites were not active in any country that prohibits online gambling, per PAGCOR regulations. He also cast doubt on claims that Chinese employees of offshore gaming operators were being mistreated, suggesting it was an issue of “perspective.”

It emerged at the start of this week that PAGCOR had opted to suspend the award of licences to offshore operators (POGOs) until at least the end of this year due to concerns about illegal operations and security.

This followed a Chinese embassy spokesperson in the Philippines accusing PAGCOR of issuing licences to operators that illegally target Chinese nationals. The spokesperson warned the Philippines to adopt “concrete and effective measures to prevent and punish the Philippine casinos, POGOs and other forms of gambling entities for their illegal employment of Chinese citizens and crack down related crimes that hurt the Chinese citizens.”

The Cambodian Government has also ceased awarding new online gambling licences with immediate effect in an effort to clamp down on illegal gambling activities.