Albay representative senator Joey Salceda called out the government's assessment that banning POGOs would benefit tourism "highly speculative."

House, Ways & Means Committee Chairman, Senator Joey Salceda, argues that “the solution to illegal POGO is not to close down all POGOs,” but instead to remand them to special economic zones - a scenario reminiscent of the industry pre-PAGCOR regulated POGOS.

Philippines House, Ways & Means Committee Chairman, Senator Joey Salceda, argues that “the solution to illegal POGO is not to close down all POGOs. Instead, operations should be remitted to special POGO-specific economic zones, allowing the government to benefit from the income while insulating the industry from the rest of the country.

The Chairperson of the Philippines House Ways and Means Committee has commended PAGCOR for collecting some $87.1 million in revenue from offshore gaming licensees (IGLs) in 2023, a 71 percent increase from 2023.

Philippine politicians are calling for a “genuine rebrand and restart” of the nation’s tourism sector, with proposals to launch a consultative conference to gather input from stakeholders and improve the sector.

PAGCOR clarified that the recent arrest of Chinese and other foreign nationals reportedly involved in illegal online gaming and their activities are not in any way related to legitimate POGOs.

President Duterte signed in a new law taxing online casinos, which stipulates that POGOs must pay a 5 percent tax on their GGR, whilst foreign employees working there are required to pay a 25 percent income tax.

It may not be until the end of this decade that the Chinese zodiac ushers in its next Year of the Rooster, but they’ve gotten started early in the Philippines with a near-unanimous vote to tax the popular online cockfighting industry as a measure to help fill public coffers. We also crane our necks to take note of Yokohama city’s effort to publish a Facebook page to promote its IR initiative, an uphill battle against widespread public disapproval of the initiative. As today is our final Friday of the year for full Asian gaming industry coverage, we also feature our last Face To Face video interview, talking with WEBE Gaming founder John English about the prospects for the sports betting industry. And the last thing we’d like to crow about is our final wrap up of the year presented by AGB Managing Editor Sharon Singleton.

The Philippines continues to focus on the gambling industry to raise revenue to fund the government’s coronavirus response, this time passing a law to tax the country’s popular online cockfighting industry.

The Philippine House of Representatives has started considering the substitute bill to House Bill 5777 on taxing persons engaged in Philippine Offshore Gaming Operations (POGOs). House Committee on Ways and Means Chair Joey Sarte Salceda hopes the additional revenues will prove useful for the cash strapped government.