The Philippines casino regulator, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (Pagcor), says it is “expediting the procurement process” for a licence to operate e-Games parlours in that country, a network that used to be run by Philippines-based PhilWeb Corp.
The information was relayed in a letter from Pagcor’s head Andrea Domingo to PhilWeb’s chairman Gregorio Araneta III. The letter – dated December 12 – was included in a PhilWeb filing to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Tuesday.
In early August, Pagcor had said PhilWeb’s expiring operating licence would not be renewed. PhilWeb had previously run a network of 286 domestic gaming parlours offering Internet-delivered games according to company information.
PhilWeb had recently announced that it was in negotiations with the Philippine authorities for a fresh licence to run digital gaming parlours – a licence known as the Intellectual Property Licence and Management Agreement (IPLMA).
But in its latest letter, Pagcor said the selection of a new licensee would be done “in accordance to Republic Act Number 9184 (RA9184), preferably through public bidding”.
“Merely renewing the IPLMA, without going through RA9184, is no longer feasible. The situation when the IPLMA was originally implemented by Pagcor – Philweb was essentially the lone service provider – more or less a decade ago, is no longer the same,” said the gaming regulator.
Ms Domingo added: “At any rate we would like to assure you that we are expediting the procurement process and that we are on schedule with the timeline we provided your representatives.” The letter did not elaborate on the timeline for issuing of a new licence.
