Domingo: Country can “benefit from these investments”
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has not changed his position on the moratorium against new casino licenses, according to spokesman Salvador S. Panelo, despite reports that several gaming projects are actively under way.
Speaking to reporters on February 18, Panelo said, “Until such time as he makes a formal statement on the matter, I think whatever his former position was, subsists.” At the time, Panelo added that no meeting had yet been scheduled with Andrea Domingo, head of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., who has asked the president to reconsider his ban for the good of the country.
Last month, buoyed by increasing gaming revenues, Domingo told Bloomberg News, “There are still areas in the Philippines that can still absorb and benefit from these investments, which won’t go here with the current ban.” She referred to gaming as Asia’s “sunrise industry” and said it has a lot of room to grow.
The numbers back up that assertion. The Philippine casino industry reported gross gaming revenues of PHP187.54 billion (US$3.58 billion) in 2018, up 22.9 percent year-on-year period. Private-sector casino posted total GGR of PHP151.65 billion for the year, an increase of 28.3 percent compared to PHP118.18 billion in the previous 12 months. In the fourth quarter, GGR came to PHP49.80 billion, up 26.7 percent from 2017. The four casinos in Manila’s Entertainment City—Solaire, City of Dreams, Okada Manila and Resorts World—generated GGR of PHP38.32 billion, an increase of 35.4 percent year-on-year.
It was late 2018 when Duterte ordered the shutdown of casinos operating on the holiday island of Boracay, including an integrated resort planned by Galaxy Entertainment Group and Leisure Resorts World Corp. He also fired the board of Landing International on the very day the members broke ground on a $1.5 billion theme park and IR in Paranaque City.
Duterte has often expressed his disdain for gaming. Last summer, he said, “I’m not issuing any franchise for gambling in the entire Philippines now. It’s a moratorium. I hate gambling.”
That hasn’t stopped operators from planning. According to CDC Gaming Reports, PH Resorts Group Holdings, the leisure and gaming unit of Davao-based businessman Dennis Uy, says it will invest $1 billion to build two casinos in the Philippines—one on Mactan Island in Cebu and one in the Clark Freeport Zone. Bloomberry Resorts, meanwhile, has just secured funding in the amount of $767 million to pay for its new Solaire-branded casino resort in Quezon City.
In related news, reports GGRAsia, the Philippine Bureau of Internal Revenue has asked for PAGCOR’s cooperation regarding a requirement that foreign and Philippines-based offshore gaming operators, known as POGOs, register with the tax agency before their licenses can be renewed by the regulator.
“The Bureau of Internal Revenue also said it has signified its intention to join the interagency task force led by the Department of Labor and Employment and the Bureau of Immigration that aims to check and monitor the number of Chinese nationals who are working in the online gaming industry,” said the Philippine Department of Finance in a statement.
“We want to trace these Chinese nationals employed by these gaming operators,” said Deputy Commissioner Arnel Guballa.
The Department of Finance statement added: “All foreign-based and Philippine-based operators, including those that have already been issued an offshore gaming license by PAGCOR are required to register with the Bureau of Internal Revenue on or before the commencement of business; or before payment of any tax due; or before or upon filing of any applicable tax return, statement or declaration.”
According to local media, many POGO operations target Chinese players and have hired many Chinese workers. Authorities believe the workforce may include people working in the country illegally. Last fall, PAGCOR said it had raided more than 170 unlicensed online gaming operations since 2017.
