The employment permits for both foreign and local employees at offshore gaming operators (POGOs, now known as IGLs) in the Philippines are set to remain valid until December 31st of this year.
The licenses initially had a three-year validity period.
According to Philstar, the adjustment to the validity period was approved by the head of the nation’s gaming regulator PAGCOR on August 15th.
Previously the Bureau of Immigration had placed a 60 day deadline for foreign nationals working in POGOs to leave the country. This was halted by the nation’s Department of Justicce early this month, aiming to synchronize the government’s plan to phase out the controversial gaming industry by the end of the year.
Alejandro H. Tengco had previously given his support to legitimate operators in the offshore gaming space, however a ban ordered by the nation’s president, Ferdinand H. Marcos Jr. mandated that all POGO operations shutter by the end of the year due to “grave abuse […] to our system of laws”.
PAGCOR’s Chairman has predicted that the enforcement of the ban will cost PHP23 billion ($408 million) in revenue and up to 40,000 jobs.
The news about the work permit extension comes one day after PAGCOR’s Overseas Gaming License Department met with IGL (Internet Gaming Licensees, formerly known as POGOs) yesterday at PAGCOR’s Corporate Office in Pasay City.
The meeting included IGLs and authorized providers’ representatives, alongside representatives of the Department of Justice, Department of Labor and Employment and the Bureau of Immigration.
The reason for the meeting was indicated as ‘regarding the banning of Offshore Gaming in the Philippines’.
