GGRAsia – Pagcor dual role conflict of interest: Finance Secretary

Pagcor dual role conflict of interest: Finance Secretary

Jul 24, 2023 Newsdesk Latest News, Philippines, Top of the deck

Philippine Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno said in Friday comments that the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (Pagcor) cannot continue its dual role of operator and regulator of the country’s gaming industry.

He added, as cited by local media outlet BusinessWorld online: “The best practice is to separate… they cannot be both an operator [and regulator]. That is conflicting.”

Mr Diokno also said that the country’s leader, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, “knows it’s not smart to have the same operator” also be the regulator for the country’s gaming industry.

Alejandro Tengco, chairman and chief executive of Pagcor, had said in a speech in Macau a fortnight ago that “the privatisation of our [own] casino operations is now at the forefront of our master plan, with Pagcor shifting its energy towards a purely regulatory role”. Mr Tengco took up the post under Mr Marcos’ incoming administration last year.

In March, Mr Tengco had announced the body was looking to raise circa PHP80 billion (US$1.46 billion currently) from the sale of its Casino Filipino-branded chain of public-sector casinos.

The chain includes more than 40 branches and so-called ‘satellite-casinos’, operating in leased venues from third parties.

Mr Diokno stated in his Friday remarks that such a sell off exercise would not require fresh legislation. He was cited saying, referring to the nation’s Department of Finance: “They can turn it over to us.”

He added such a sell off for Casino Filipino venues could also be done via an agency called the Governance Commission for Government-Owned or -Controlled Corporations, also known as GCG.

“What GCG usually does is to propose an executive order,” he added, referring to that sort of exercise.

On Thursday, at the SiGMA Asia conference in Manila for the online gaming sector, Mr Tengco had announced plans to launch in the first quarter next year an online casino platform called “casinofilipino.com”.

Who or what will run the online brand, is still a matter of discussion, Mr Tengco suggested in comments to GGRAsia on the sidelines of his keynote address.

State-run Pagcor said on Wednesday it recorded total income of PHP36.21 billion in the first half of 2023, a 35.6-percent increase from the prior-year period. Revenues in the six months to June 30 showed that Pagcor’s income from gaming operations and regulatory fees from its licensees amounted to PHP34.12 billion.