China Agrees Not to Interfere in Philippines POGO Industry

China has assured the Philippines that it will not interfere with the country’s offshore gaming industry despite having last year called for all Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) to be shut down.

According to Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian issued the assurance during a recent meeting between the two in which he also stated that he “understands” how the local law enforcement system works and the fact that some Chinese nationals illegally working for POGOs may need to be deported.

“The ambassador said that if you must do it, because the law is the law … that if there is a need to deport, arrest, then they’re keeping their hands away from all these things,” Duterte said.

The President did, however, reveal that the Ambassador had warned against introducing too much gambling into the country and subsequently too many Chinese workers, noting that some had been “lured into and cheated to work illegally with only tourist visas.”

“If you add more to this number presently operating, you will not be able to police them all. So you have to set a number for that. It cannot be in every town and city about so many POGO games going on,” Duterte said in reference to Huang’s comments.