Duterte Crackdown Could Cost Millions

Sat, Aug 6, 2016

Newly-elected Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte (l.) is making good on his promise to crack down on the country’s online gaming industry. In the five weeks since he took office, PAGCOR has revoked 124 online licenses.

PHP10 billion (US2 million) at stake

The new president of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, took office on June 30 with a promise to restrict online gaming in the country. Since then, the Philippines Amusement and Gaming Corp. under Duterte appointee Andrea Domingo has canceled 124 online gaming licenses and announced it will not renew the licenses of more than 620 others.

Domingo told reporters PAGCOR could lose around PHP10 billion (US$212 million) due to the license cancellation. She added that the regulator, which also serves as an operator of 11 casinos and 45 satellite gaming halls around the country, is fully on board with Duterte’s goals in the matter, which could make it fall short of its 2017 revenue target of $1.06 billion.

Domingo added that the government is considering a merger of PAGCOR and the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, and may assign all future gaming revenues to government-run health projects.

Meanwhile, according to GGRAsia, the Oriental Paradise Casino in the Subic Bay Freeport region has been ordered to shut down. Operator Frontier Wish International Ltd. reportedly did not comply with a revenue-sharing agreement with the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, reported the Philippine Daily Inquirer. The casino may reopen once the operator meets the authority’s conditions.

Leisure & Resorts World Corporation(LWRC) says Duterte’s crackdown on online gaming won’t have a significant impact on its operations.

LWRC Chairman and President Reynaldo Bantug recently told investors the firm isn’t online-based and does not consider itself to be an online gambling firm.

Bantug also said the company abides the law and pays its taxes, which is driving much of the crackdown on online gaming operators.

Duterte also says it’s too hard for the government to collect taxes from online gaming operators and ordered the state to begin revoking the licenses on online operators.

Meanwhile, Bantug says LWRC is planning to open another 30 bingo parlors. It already has 137 in the Philippines.

LWRC owns nearly 70 percent of First Cagayan Leisure and Resorts Corporation, and Bantug said most of its revenues come from brick-and-mortar bingo parlors. Only a small portion of its revenues come from online gaming, Bantug told investors.

The Philippine Gaming and Amusement Corporation recently revoked the online gaming permits for 124 operators.

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