‘POGO ban to hurt gov’t revenue’

A House of Representatives panel on Monday gave its nod to two bills seeking to prohibit and declare illegal the operation of Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators, or POGOs, in the country over crimes like kidnapping, extortion and money laundering associated with it.

Members of the House Committee on Games and Amusements adopted House Bill 5082 and House Resolution 1197 as they cited the proliferation of illegal activities associated with the multi-billion online gambling industry.

Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, author of HR 1197, raised concerns over POGO-related kidnapping cases, which stood at 15 as of September 2022.

Philippine National Police AntiCybercrime Group chief, P/Maj. Gen. Sydney Hernia, however, told the committee that there has been a “significant decline” in kidnapping cases since 2023 following the rebranding of the POGO to Internet Gaming Licensees, or IGL.

In October last year, Alejandro Tengco, Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation’s CEO and chairperson, announced they would change the label of the POGO to IGL due to negative connotations associated with the offshore gaming industry.

“In 2019, at its height when it had closed 300 licensees, and all these criminal activities happened through the years, we decided (to change its name) because there was too much negativity about what POGO used to be. As we were cleaning up the rules and regulations and also the licensees, we also changed the name,” Tengco said.

The rebranding drew flak, however, particularly from lawmakers, who suspected that the move was a veiled attempt at camouflaging the illicit activities of POGOs in the wake of multiple reported violations by the firms.

According to Tengco, less than half of the remaining 75 POGOs in the country are Chinese-owned.

The prohibition of POGO operations, he said, would undoubtedly hurt the finances of PAGCOR as well as the Philippine government, taking into account that about 5 to 6 percent of POGO revenues go to the National Treasury.

“Definitely, there would be an effect in terms of its contributions to the National Treasury. Automatically, 50 percent of our gross revenues go to the National Treasury.,” Tengco said.

This year, PAGCOR is projecting about P6.5 billion to P7 billion in revenues from POGOs.