Philippine high rollers will soon be able to gamble remotely with some of the country’s casino resorts as part of the Philippines’ efforts to offset at least a portion of the revenue losses caused by the closure of land-based gambling venues due to the coronavirus pandemic. MANILA - Philippine integrated resort and casino Okada Manila will retrench more than 1,000 employees next month, citing severe losses triggered by the ongoing coronavirus lockdown. Philippines Casino News Updates There’s plenty of room for casino growth in the Philippines but operators are wary after President Duterte has been sending mixed signals regarding his approval or disapproval of casino expansion in his country.

The Philippines today back plans from its national regulator to allow for the construction and establishment of new casino resorts across the country. The news comes off the back of a stagnant period in Philippines casino politics. After several years of obstruction to commercial casino interest, the countries national regulator lifted a ban. The idea is to allow for casinos to spread around the country and not just be concentrated in the small region of Clark.

There is a large casino industry emerging in Manila as local regulators seek to diversify the balance away from foreign investors. ©DaGreen92/Pixabay

The news is being welcomed with open arms by the country’s largest operators. They have been restricted in this country for many years, and since the establishment of economic zones granting tax breaks to commercial interests around the Philippines – a unified and well-funded casino resort project always seemed a possibility that was on the horizon. Now the wheels are in motion, lawmakers have passed a series of proposals at the end of November 2019 making this latest construction project possible, seed funding has been secured and plans are being drawn to transform the casino landscape of the Philippines.

The special economic zone of Clark and Luzon Island already has a project underway. The new steps taken by the national casino regulator will grant licenses to a whole host of casino interests from around the world. It should be noted, that these licenses are indeed a special case, the resorts in question are “special projects” that fall outside the remit of the usual government policy toward commercial gambling entities. This latest action is merely an exceptional case to rejuvenizes a fledgling economic zone within the country.

Philippines Tightly Controls Its Casino Industry

It is well known that the Philippines President Duterte has a hardline approach to many typically enjoyed commodities and activities. In 2018 he pledged to not permit any more casinos or integrated resorts in the Philippines. What we are witnessing now is a backtrack on this policy. In the face of market and economic opportunity, Duterte has listened to calls within his own government to reconsider the aggressive anti-gambling stance.

A longtime spokeswoman for the ongoing status of gambling within the Philippines is the head of the national regulatory agency. The organization that has been tasked with carrying out the whim of their President, they are often caught in a conflict of interest. Speaking at the G2E Asia event to a crowd of industry leaders, the chairman and chief executive of the Philippine Casino regulator confirmed in her keynote address:

“We do not want to overburden the industry by just blatantly giving out licenses. The President declared a ban on IRs and casinos in January 2018 and we have observed that. We have to have critical mass in different parts of the country. We are improving our transport systems, we are improving our airports and our seaports. Where will all these people go, if we do not give them the services or the amusements or the entertainment or the gaming that they would like?”– Andrea Domingo, Chairman & Chief Executive, Philippine Gaming Regulator

Philippine Casino News

This conservative system and approach toward the question of gambling regulation is typical of this region. Although Manila, the capital of the Philippines has for a long time been an adequate hub for gambling in Asia, it has recently been outstripped by the noisy neighbors in Macau and more recently the opened up markets of Japan. The main concentration of casinos in the Philippines is around the Cebu, Clark, and Manila city zones. The intention of the President and the Philippine Gaming Regulator is to ensure that the market of casinos is adequately diversified and there is not overcrowding in certain parts of the country.

Philippine Off-Shore Gaming Operators and Taxes

Another topic that was high on the agenda at the G2E Asia convention last week was the issue of foreign casino interests evading taxes. The Philippine off-shore gaming operators, or POGOs as they are commonly referred, have in the past received a number of tax breaks from the government. To ambition back then was to encourage further investment into the country and bring about an invigorated tourism industry that would thrive under the lights of world-class casinos.

However, for many, that dream did not become a reality. There have been a series of allegations of financial fraud, tax evasion on earnings and irregularities over the treatment and handling of employee contracts. As Andrea Domingo stated, “as far as POGOs are concerned, we have also stopped acceptance of new applicants”. This shift away from POGOs and an emergence of a new homegrown commercialized casino industry will certainly pay dividends for the Philippine government.

In the future, we can only expect to see further emphasis on this strategy. It is common for governments that run with a conservative agenda – eliminate the need for regulation in the market, by building the market framework that will regulate itself. The Philippines is poised to launch its new integrated resort project on Luzon Island. Whilst it avoids the problem of reaching “critical mass” in certain regions across the country, it has adopted a smart diversification strategy for the future of its casino industry.

According to statistics managed by the Philippine gambling regulator, the only income vertical that grew in the country during the first quarter of the year was online gambling.

The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR), this week its general revenue figures for the game. In total, during the first three months of 2020, P60b (US $ 1.2 trillion) were obtained, indicating that there were no changes compared to the same period last year.

The PAGCOR numbers look somewhat suspicious, as they don’t seem to take into account the impact of the pandemic on the local gaming industry.

Philippine land casino revenue was P53 billion, according to regulator statistics, representing a half-billion increase from the first quarter of last year. However, the 2020 revenue figure appears to have been accidentally adulterated by a double count of the P7.6 billion generated by the Philippine casino business operated by PAGCOR.

Private PAGCOR-licensed casinos located in Manila reported revenues of P33.5 billion during the first quarter of this year, below the P39.8 billion registered in 2019. This reflects the result of the closure of the gambling halls which occurred in mid-March due to the coronavirus outbreak.

On the other hand, affected casinos at Clark Freeport saw their revenue increase from about P1.1 billion to P3.9 billion. Instead the two Thunderbird casinos kept their revenue numbers at P435 million. This means that the total revenue of the private casino was P37.8 billion and not the P45.4 billion indicated by PAGCOR in the subtotal corresponding to the first quarter.

Philippine Casino News

To reach such a figure, the regulator must count Casino Filipino’s income twice, somewhat irregularly.

A closer look at the figures of the private casino indicates that the VIP gaming operations were the ones that performed the most, falling only 28% to P10.1 trillion. While board game revenue was flat at billion P16.6. On the other hand, revenues from electronic games had a decrease of almost 12% to billions P11.

The physical gaming sites whose clientele is mostly local reported a drop in revenue of 7.2% to approximately P7 billion.
PAGCOR’s revenues from Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGO) increased from P1.34 billion in the first quarter of last year to P1.8 billion in the quarter ended March 31, 2020.

These figures will most likely fall in the second quarter of this year when PAGCOR reveals its new results, as the number of POGOs authorized to resume operations after its pandemic shutdown decreased.

In the first quarter of 2020, PAGCOR’s gross revenue totaled P17.2 billion, down from P1 billion year-over-year. Because the ground gaming operations have yet to open, second quarter revenue is expected to drop dramatically.

Philippine Casino News Today

The country’s regulator unveiled new rules on the ability of licensed sports betting operators to offer online betting related to cockfighting, in a statement released last week.

According to the statement, if “remote betting on live cockfighting is offered online or through the internet, the same shall be available only to VIP Players with Facial Verification Access, Minimum Betting Limits, and Know-Your-Customer Features”.

Source:https://calvinayre.com/2020/06/25/casino/philippine-casino-gamblingrevenue-takes-covid-19-hit/