Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte apparently is stepping back from his longstanding anti-gambling campaign, which included actions to ban new casinos, crack down on online operations and keep locals from playing neighborhood games of chance.
According to the Manila Times, at a May 11 public rally, Duterte said he is “lacking” the power to stem the activities, though he does not approve. Citing the popular illegal games of jueteng and hantak, he said, “That will be up to you. I am not trying to encourage you. I cannot stop it anyway.”
Coincidentally, a May 14 note from Morgan Stanley Asia Ltd. said casino gaming is “growing faster in the Philippine market” than in “Las Vegas, Macau, and Singapore,” reported GGRAsia.
The government collected net taxes of nearly PHP9.69 billion (US$185.1 million) in the first quarter, up 14.7 percent year-on-year while Macau recorded a slight decline of 0.5 percent due to a 13.4 percent decrease in VIP GGR. “We expect overseas expansion by Macau junkets (with favorable margins) and video streaming to continue to drive solid growth in the Philippines in 2019,” wrote Morgan Stanley’s Praveen Choudhary.
Duterte seems resigned to the proliferation of illegal games such as the aforementioned jueteng, which the Times said is “patronized by poor Filipinos” and provides a living for some.
“At least, the money is rotating,” Duterte said last summer. “Others are hungry, but others are eating and there is a commercial activity there.”
The country’s state-run regulator, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., has imposed a moratorium on new casino licenses on orders from Duterte, but has expanded online gaming by encouraging the growth of the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators sector.
The industry said to be dominated by Chinese firms has recently come under scrutiny with the finance department claiming that foreign workers employed by these firms are not paying the proper taxes.
