GGRAsia – House committee chair Flores proposes abolishing Pagcor

House committee chair Flores proposes abolishing Pagcor

Jun 17, 2024 Newsdesk Latest News, Philippines, Top of the deck

A senior member of the Philippines’ House of Representatives has proposed abolishing the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (Pagcor), that country’s casino regulator and currently also an operator of some publicly-owned casinos. The agency would then be replaced by a new regulatory-only entity, according to the proposal.

Jonathan Keith Flores, chairperson of the House Committee on Government Reorganization, also wants to see privatisation of Pagcor’s self-operated casinos.

Pagcor has said it is already committed to privatising the publicly-controlled chain of land-based Casino Filipino venues. Separately, Pagcor plans to set up a casinofilipino.com online platform for casino games.

Mr Flores made his Pagcor abolition and replacement proposal via a press statement issued on Saturday, according to the Philippine News Agency, an official outlet.

In Pagcor’s place as regulatory body he wants a “Philippine Amusement and Gaming Commission” referred to as “Pagcom”.

The announcement said that for the purposes of such a step, Mr Flores had adopted House Bill 3559, created by former Batangas lawmaker and currently the nation’s Finance Secretary, Ralph Recto.

House Bill 3559 had been filed by Mr Recto in August 2022, according to GGRAsia’s review of the relevant records.

Another measure, Senate Bill 596, to set up a body called Pagcom, had been filed in July 2019 by Mr Recto in the upper house of the country’s Congress, the records also indicate.

Mr Flores was cited as saying in his Saturday statement: “I have chosen to adopt House Bill 3559 because, among others, it will abolish the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp, transfer its regulatory powers to the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Commission, and privatise all existing Pagcor operations and casinos, including all kinds of Pagcor online gaming.”

He stated that once the House’s government reorganisation committee and the games and amusement committee jointly deliberate on the bill and work on what was termed in the report as a “substitute bill”, he would introduce amendments that would effectively phase out all Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) that were granted licenses by Pagcor.

Pagcor approved in July last year new regulations for POGOs, which are now referred to as “Internet Gaming Licensees” (IGLs). On Friday. China’s embassy in Manila called on the Philippines to ban offshore gaming operations based in that country, saying such enterprises were damaging China-Philippines relations.

Mr Flores for his part was quoted as stating in his Saturday announcement: “Through the [Reorganization] Committee and the technical working group, I will also introduce amendments that will remove online games on mobile phones and cyberspace that have become electronic means of cybercrime, scams, identity theft and online theft.”

According to the report, under the bill, the new entity Pagcom would collect 5 percent as gross revenue tax from casino operators.

Pagcom would collect an additional 25 percent from the aggregate gross earnings, “which shall be earmarked for the priority projects of the local government unit hosting the gaming facility, establishment and operation of rehabilitation centres for the treatment of addictions, and other priority social services programmes of the national government,” reported the news agency.