Pagcor missing on US$27mln tax from POGOs: audit

Sep 06, 2021 Newsdesk Latest News, Philippines, Top of the deck  

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The Philippine gaming regulator must intensify its efforts to collect receivables of nearly PHP1.37 billion (US$27.3 million) from Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs), stated the country’s public spending watchdog, the Commission on Audit.

According to the 2020 annual audit report on the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (Pagcor), the regulator has been unable to collect receivables in the aggregate amount of PHP1.38 billion. Receivables from POGOs account for 98.8 percent of the total amount. The remaining amount was related to uncollected dues of operators of poker, traditional, electronic, and rapid bingo, and other electronic games.

“Considering the substantial amount of uncollected accounts receivable, the inability to collect thereof deprived the Pagcor of additional funds for its operations,” stated the report.

The audit body added: “Further verification revealed that the past due receivables from offshore gaming were the accounts of the POGOs with cancelled operating sites and some with approved payment restructuring that have been already endorsed to the legal department for appropriate action, among others.”

The audit body said that the licences of at least eight of the delinquent POGOs had been cancelled while four were under review. The department also confirmed that three other POGOS were still operating as of January 12, 2021.

The report did not name the 15 delinquent POGOs but said the amounts each had payable were overdue by between one and as many as three years.

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