Alejandro Tengco, chairman and CEO of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR), has announced that the agency will reduce the percentage of revenues it receives from the country’s online casino industry. Tengco believes the move will accomplish two things: make online casinos more competitive with illegal operations, and help to curb black-market providers.
In remarks quoted by the Philippine Inquirer, Tengco said he will gradually cut the government’s share, which previously reached a high of 50 percent, to about 30 percent.
“It’s now at 42.5 percent and I’m going to bring it to 37.5 percent by March,” Tengco said. “I just want to kill illegal gaming, which proliferated because PAGCOR charged (the licensees) so much.”
As reported by GGRAsia, Tengco estimates that the agency is losing about PHP1 billion (US$17.8 million) each month to unlicensed online casinos.
The strategy seems to be working. According to Tengco, there used to be about “six closures” of online casinos each month until PAGCOR reduced its revenue share to 42.5 percent. At that point, the number of closures dropped to “one … every two months,” he said.
