Starting with 16 sites
Philippines-based eGames provider PhilWeb Corp. may officially relaunch operations after almost being drummed out of business by the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte.
According to GGRAsia, PhilWeb has received a letter from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (PAGCOR), the state-run gaming regulator, “allowing it to offer its services as an electronic gaming system service provider.” Formerly the provider for 286 PAGCOR-licensed gaming halls, the company will begin with 16.
The resumption is still “subject to inspection and testing of the eGames outlets by PAGCOR,” the firm said in a statement. PhilWeb is still prohibited from operating its own internet cafés.
When Duterte took office in mid-2016, PhilWeb was the Philippines’ largest operator of internet cafés. Duterte called PhilWeb Director Roberto Ongpin “an oligarch who must be destroyed”; Ongpin sold his ownership stake in PhilWeb to try to protect the jobs of 6,000 employees.
Duterte has since backed off his hardline stance because of the revenue to be derived from the eGames, along with the nation’s land-based casinos.
