Linked to 2017 casino attack
Lawmakers in the Philippines are looking to put the brakes on unfair credit and lending practices that prey on casino patrons, reports the Philippines Business Mirror. A technical working group chaired by Rep. Gus S. Tambunting of Parañaque City plans to criminalize loan sharking businesses, which reportedly charge borrowers 2 percent interest per day.
“Each financier can lend up to P100 million a week to borrowers who have been losing in the casino in exchange for their cars, real-estate properties and personal belongings such as expensive watches and jewelry,” said Rep. Virgilio S. Lacson, vice chairman of the Committee on Government Reorganization. “The incident in Resorts World Manila last year, which featured a gunman heavily indebted due to his accruing financial obligations from his creditors resulting in his gambling addiction, could have been prevented if proper mechanisms had been in place.”
In that attack, which took place June 2, 2017, dozens of people at the complex in Entertainment City were killed or injured when gunman Jessie Javier Carlos set fire to the casino floor. Carlos was later identified in news reports as a debt-ridden gambler.
Arnold Ferdinand Salvosa, assistant vice president of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., said PAGCOR supports the crackdown, and said casinos “should not tolerate the activities of loan sharks.”
The proposed Protection against Casino Loan Sharks Act of 2017 would outlaw loan sharks and provide for fines and prison sentences for violators. Casino operators would also be “directly and principally liable jointly with the offender for the commission of the offense for civil damages” unless they can prove they exercised due diligence in preventing loaning activities.
“Any person soliciting, undertaking credit or loaning activities inside casinos, either physically or electronically in exchange for their cars, real-estate properties and other valuables as collateral, and charging interest rates for the principal amount borrowed, shall be guilty of illegal credit or loaning and upon conviction shall be penalized,” the bill states.
Meanwhile, according to GGRAsia, the Philippines’ acceptance of proxy bets is one of the “ongoing deficiencies” of the country’s anti-money laundering system.
The 2018 edition of the United States Department of State’s International Narcotics Control Strategy Report says that although the country’s Anti-Money Laundering Act now covers casinos, “ongoing deficiencies include the high (US$100,000) single-transaction reporting threshold, the non-inclusion of junket operators as covered entities, and the exclusion of non-cash transactions for AML reporting purposes.”
