6,000 jobs on the line
In a dramatic effort to save Philippine eGaming company PhilWeb, businessman and former Trade Minister Roberto Ongpin not only stepped down from his role as chairman, but announced he would auction almost half his shares or donate them to the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., the country’s regulatory body.
Ongpin, who has been slammed by newly elected President Rodrigo Duterte as an “oligarch that must be destroyed,” said he hoped the move would persuade PAGCOR to renew the company’s license.
“If PAGCOR would own 49 percent of PhilWeb, it would renew the license to itself and thus save the jobs and livelihood of about 6,000 employees and their families,” Ongpin said. According to the Philippine Star, the shares were recently valued at about P4.6 billion (US$99 million).
According to CalvinAyre.com, however, all his actions were for naught. PAGCOR Chairwoman Andrea Domingo has restated her intent not to renew the company’s license to provide software to online casinos.
Ongpin said he was shocked by Duterte’s personal criticism. “I was struck by lightning,” Ongpin said at an emergency meeting of PhilWeb Corp. “I am totally mystified by why I was hit by this lightning. I have never met the president.”
Asked if Duterte’s description was accurate, Ongpin said, “Am I an oligarch? If that means having money, well I have money, but I made it in an honest way.
“I heaved a sigh of relief when the past administration stepped down, but alas how wrong I was!” Ongpin added. “Hopefully If I’m out of the picture, the lightning will be deflected.”
The company equipped e-Games stations, internet cafés that offer hundreds of casino games including baccarat, blackjack, slot-machine games, video poker and sports betting. There were 268 such cafés across the country, most independently owned and operated.
On a morning news program, Domingo said PAGCOR is simply promoting responsible gaming in the country. “The pronouncement of the president on these types of gaming is very clear,” she said. “Duterte does not want online gaming or hybrid games like this to proliferate in the country because it caters mostly to the indigent or needy people.”
In other gaming news from the Philippines, the state-run regulator will soon revoke the reduced license fees granted to casinos in Entertainment City, according to the Manila Bulletin.The license fees dropped in May 2014 after the Bureau of Internal Revenue imposed a 30 percent income tax on gaming companies.PAGCOR originally proposed levying a 15 percent share of gross gaming revenues from high roller tables and junket operations and 25 percent of gross gaming income from non-high roller tables, slot machines and electronic gaming machines, reported the Asia Gaming Brief.
