The Philippines’ gaming tax regime puts it at an advantage over some Asian peers and makes the business commercially viable, according to gaming industry consulting firm The Innovation Group.
PH tax conducive to gaming (Malaya Business Insight)
Phil-Asian Gaming Expo postponed to July 2021
The Phil-Asian Gaming Expo (PAGE) has postponed its upcoming exhibition, previously scheduled to take place in January 2021, until July 29-31, 2021. The decision is related to ongoing disruptions to global travel routes as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Phil-Asian Gaming Expo (PAGE) postponed until July 2021 (press release)
Lawmaker Akimoto makes first bail request
Former Senior Vice-Minister of the Cabinet Office Tsukasa Akimoto has made his first request to the Tokyo court for bail after he was rearrested on witness tampering charges in connection with the 500 .com bribery case.
秋元議員側が保釈請求＝ＩＲ汚職事件―東京地裁 (Jiji Press)
Crown Resorts receives Show Cause notice from Victoria regulator
Crown Resorts Limited confirmed that it has received a Show Cause Notice from the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation (VCGLR) relating to Crown Melbourne’s compliance with its Internal Control Statement for junket operations.
VCGLR Show Cause Notice (ASX filing)
MGM China provides vocational training to mental health rehabilitants
MGM China has joined hands with Fuhong Society of Macau to provide a series of food and beverage related vocational trainings to the mental health rehabilitants of Fuhong, who are working at the restaurant Portuguese Corner, the latest vocational training project at its Po Choi Center.
MGM Provides F&B Vocational Trainings For Social Enterprise of Fuhong Society of Macau (press release)
Quarantine imposed on travelers from Qingdao
Macau health authorities announced that starting Tuesday all travelers who have been to the city of Qingdao, Shandong Province, in the last two weeks will be subject to a 14-day quarantine upon their arrival.
Medical observation imposed for travellers from Qingdao (Macau Business)
Crown Resorts’ “failure of culture”
The departure of James Packer from the witness chair has not marked the end for Crown Resorts’ agony at the New South Wales Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority (ILGA) inquiry. Crown Resorts director Andrew Demetriou was in the witness box on Monday, trying desperately to defend the company, but still conceding that it had a “failure of culture” on the compliance issue.
Demetriou himself did not come out of the day looking very good. It was revealed that less than two years ago that he himself had raised questions about the focus on compliance at Crown–not that there was too little compliance, but that there was too much.
“We’re at risk of being like the Australian cricket team–timid, reactionary, not bold or aggressive,” Demetriou wrote to James Packer in December 2018. He advised that the company was spending too much “time, resources, costs, and focus of management” dealing with regulatory compliance, whereas company leaders needed to be turning their minds to “strategies to grow revenue.” He added, “We exist to win.”
Demetriou argued on Monday that his message to Packer should not be misunderstood: “It wasn’t meant in any way to diminish the importance of being compliant or regulated; they are absolutely critical. But we had to find the right balance,” he said.
At the time, it would seem, he felt the balance argued for less attention to compliance.
Demetriou did his best to try to defend Crown, asserting, “We were a very good organization. We run a very large and complex business employing 18,500 people. You don’t win the Australian Employer of the Year three times unless you are running a fine business… In some aspects we’ve proven to be deficient, particularly in the areas this inquiry has looked at. But it’s not to say we don’t run a very fine business in other areas.”
In his own assessment, Demetriou observed, “That is not a failure of our processes, but it speaks more of a failure of culture.”
James Packer may have been the most dramatic element of Crown’s failure of culture, but clearly the leadership problems were not limited to him alone.
Philippines seen warming to online gaming for locals
The Philippines market regulator may be considering regulation to allow local Filipinos to gamble online to make up for plummeting revenue from the country’s legal gambling outlets, according to industry sources.
More than half of the fees and taxes raised by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR) are submitted to the government for nation-building projects. However, in Q2, regulated casinos generated just $47 million, a decline of more than 95 percent from the prior year, while income from the country’s Philippine Offshore Gambling Operators (POGOs) has halved to about $6 million a month.
While the land-based casinos are eventually expected to recover their prior revenue-generating capacity, the same may not hold true for POGOs, with only 33 out of 60 having resumed operations post the pandemic shutdowns.
The imposition of a 5 percent franchise tax on gross gaming revenue and the need to pay back taxes before starting back in business has led many to throw in the towel and look for greener pastures.
Against this backdrop, PAGCOR is seeking other opportunities to raise revenue and two major electronic games license holders have been told to expect PAGCOR rules and procedures in the near future, according to one source who did not wish to be named.
This option is also likely to be made available to other licensed operators, including casinos and bingo operators. Suppliers are already beginning to look at market opportunities.
“Experience taught us that whenever an obstacle arises, an opportunity usually goes along with it,” Sebastian Salat, CEO of Zitro wrote in a report for AGB. “As the effects of COVID are being felt in land-based venues we understand PAGCOR may be considering regulated online and mobile gaming in the Philippines. Zitro has outstanding offerings in this area and we are already preparing the groundwork with local partners.”
Sources point to the recent introduction of two online versions of a cockfighting game. The highly popular sport has been stopped during Covid-19 to prevent the spread of disease, but so far the authorities have not taken issue with the mobile version.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque was asked about the practice during a press conference in July and just noted that stakeholders of the upgraded cockfighting should first ask the Inter-Agency Task Force for emerging infectious diseases for permission, as “sabong” as it’s known is prohibited due to community quarantine laws.
His comments were more focused on the health and safety elements for those actually hosting the fight than the online gambling aspect.
“We hope that the seemingly well founded rumors that PAGCOR will approve online are correct. Our recently introduced NBA basketball game from HIGHLIGHT is perfect for mobile application,” Bromhead Holdings, Chief Operating Officer Mae Javaluyas said.
DFNN CEO Calvin Lim is also confident that the country will move to regulate online gambling for locals.
“The need to adapt for technology advances is very important,” he said in a recent interview. “The more initiatives or channels that you would like your customers to play, to be entertained requires more regulation. It’s never easy. We know new regulation being implemented will take a lot of back and forth. We are here to see in what aspect we can contribute more.”
When President Rodrigo Duterte first came to power in 2016 he threatened to close down the country’s online gambling industry, but then softened his stance to allow PAGCOR to begin offering online licenses for companies as long as they are not targeting Filipinos.
The licenses generated PHP5.7 billion for PAGCOR last year and the government had been hoping to double that number this year through the imposition of new taxes, which now looks to have backfired.
Although Duterte publicly opposed the idea of allowing Filipinos to gamble online, apart from in designated e-cafes, other figures in the government have said it’s only a matter of time.
The Hon. Gus S. Tambunting, representative for the 2nd District of Paranaque City and chair of the Committee on Games and Amusement said during the ASEAN Gaming Summit last year that ultimately regulation would be needed as online gambling was already highly prevalent in the country.
He did say it was unlikely to happen under Duterte’s watch. However, the devastation wrought by Covid-19 on government coffers may have changed opinions.
PAGCOR did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Chinese Movements During Golden Week [Infographic]
![Chinese Movements During Golden Week [Infographic]](https://agbrief.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Golden-Week-Travel-Featured-Image.png "Chinese Movements During Golden Week [Infographic]")
Insights from Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Arlt, China Outbound Tourism Research Institute (COTRI)
Before September 23, only citizens of Guangdong could get IVS visas to get to Macau – taking around ten days to get one.
For many in China, it has not been easy to get an IVS visa in time for the October Golden Week holidays, which was probably done purposefully to balance between helping Macau boost its tourists (and casino visitors) as a reward for “good” behavior (as opposed to Hong Kong) and on the other hand prevent Macau from being overrun by Mainland tourists – possibly creating a new virus hot-spot and spreading the virus all over China with the returning visitors.
In August, Macau had 200,000 visitors, this was already more than the rest of the world together saw of Mainland Chinese tourists during that month.
It is not, as some Western media have said because the Chinese do not dare to travel. With 637 million domestic trips during Golden Week, it shows that people are not afraid to travel and most people are not too poor to do it.
Two former 500. com advisers found guilty
Two former advisers to a Chinese gambling operator seeking to enter Japan’s nascent casino market were found guilty Monday of bribing a Japanese lawmaker.
Two former 500. com advisers found guilty. (South China Morning Post)
