The Philippines’ gaming regulator (PAGCOR) is looking to have “sort of an upgraded version” of offshore gaming, despite the mandate by the nation’s president to shutter POGO operations under its purview.
According to the Inquirer, the head of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation, Alejandro H. Tengco, made the comments to the House of Representatives’ committee on appropriations on Tuesday.
“While the mandate today, the instruction of the President today is to wind down the operations of all till the end of the year, but who knows, maybe later on we can study and see if it’s possible to have a sort of an upgraded version,” indicated the executive.
Questioned on whether there could be a “better version of POGO […] that would help the economy”, Tengco noted that PAGCOR had been making improvements before the president issued the offshore gaming ban – citing the drop in IGLs (formerly known as POGOs), to 43, from nearly 300 before.
Tengco also noted that all 43 licensed IGLs were performing in accordance with the law.
“It is of my belief, and up to the time that the President made an announcement, that the 43 legal operators were doing legitimate business and it was giving the government coffers revenue and providing employment to hundreds of thousands of people, directly or indirectly,” the executive noted, as cited by the publication.
Tengco also indicated that PAGCOR has been working to spare special business process outsourcing companies (SBPOs) from the ban, as they do not directly handle bets. The official says this could save up to 10,000 jobs.
