Tax revenues a factor
Embattled eGames provider PhilWeb Corp. could survive after all, despite a campaign to shut it down by Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte.
According to several news outlets, the gaming operator will be allowed to reopen more than 130 eGames gaming halls across the nation because the government does not want to forfeit the revenues.
CalvinAyre.com cited “reliable sources in the Philippine gambling industry” who said Duterte and the Philippines Gaming and Amusement Corp. will retreat from a seemingly firm stance against the internet cafes, simply because the government needs the money.
According to the Manila Times, PAGCOR was on the receiving end of more than 40.2 percent of the cafes’ total revenues. The cafes were closed last summer as part of Duterte’s “war against online gambling”; some 5,000 people lost their jobs.
Duterte reportedly has ordered the regulator to reinstate some of the expired licenses as long as the venues are not near churches and schools. PhilWeb Chairman Gregorio Ma Araneta says the company may reopen some of the e-Games parlors before the end of the year.
“These operators, they’re losing money,” Araneta told the Times. “About 5,000 people are expecting this. I told PAGCOR that I’m not the one who’s hurting. The business is there, the longer you keep us closed, the harder it would be for the operators and there will be lesser revenues.”
In other industry news in the Philippines, the government under Duterte has begun privatizing the casinos now operated by PAGCOR. Senator Loren Legarda, chairwoman of the Senate committee on finance, said PAGCOR’s role will be limited to “mere” regulation of the gaming sector.
Senate President Pro Tempore Franklin Drilon advised the Department of Finance, “You don’t need legislation of congress on this. This is delegated to the president and if the policy is to remove the operating function of PAGCOR and limit PAGCOR to licensing, this is the better policy. This is actually the situation in many countries where there is a gaming industry.”
The process should be complete by the end of 2017, Legarda told Drilon.
“I understand, Mr. President, that not only is the Finance Department in favor of your statement but they have already started it, the process of privatization and agreed that the regulatory function will only be retained with PAGCOR,” she said. “In 2017, by the third quarter, Mr. President, I’m told that the process can be consummated.”
