The rapid expansion of digital gaming had revealed “regulatory gaps that traditional systems were not designed to manage,” said the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (Pagcor) in a Wednesday press release, indirectly citing Alejandro Tengco (pictured in a file photo), its chairman and chief executive.
The Philippine regulator directly quoted him as saying the “greatest threat” to regulators and licensed operators “is not higher standards,” but the “continued presence of illegal and unregulated actors that undermines trust and distorts competition”.
Mr Tengco’s comments came on Tuesday at ICE Barcelona, a gaming industry trade show and conference in Spain.
He pointed to the decision of his country’s government to ban Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs), a policy which Wednesday’s update said had been “fully enforced by the end of 2024, after offshore gaming was linked to criminal activities such as fraud and money laundering”.
The Pagcor statement on Mr Tengco’s comments also mentioned “intensified reforms across the licensed online gaming sector, shifting toward a more player-centric regulatory approach” for the remaining domestic-customer-facing market in that country.
The measures include tighter know-your-customer and identity verification standards, mandatory responsible gaming tools such as self-exclusion and betting limits, and stricter controls on gambling advertising to protect minors and vulnerable groups.
In July, Pagcor and the country’s Ad Standards Council signed a memorandum of understanding to regulate all gambling-related advertisements across all media platforms.
Mr Tengco noted in his Tuesday comments that financial safeguards were also strengthened through restrictions on certain payment channels. He also mentioned the introduction of a new minimum guaranteed fee for licensed online operators to ensure fair contribution to government revenues and to promote transparency.
In August, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the Philippines’ central bank, ordered providers of e-wallets and other digital payment systems to remove links that provided access from their interfaces to online gambling platforms in the country.
In December, it was announced that all Philippines-accredited “gaming system administrators” or GSAs – whether ones with electronic casino games or ones without electronic casino games – will from April 1, 2026, be required to pay a “minimum guaranteed fee” per month.
“Regulation is not about avoiding discomfort,” Mr Tengco was cited as saying in his latest comments, adding “it is about building a system that is resilient, accountable, and worthy of public trust.”
