Pagcor on track to revoke all POGO licenses by year-end

The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (Pagcor) is on track to revoke all licenses held by offshore gambling firms by the end of December, its chairman Alejandro Tengco said on December 10, in compliance with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s July directive banning Philippine offshore gaming operators, or POGOs¹. Tengco said the number of offshore gambling firms still operating in the country had fallen to 17².

Speaking at a forum organized by the Stratbase ADR Institute, Tengco said the remaining operators would be shut down by year-end and that any that continue after that date are illegal².

The licensed population has shrunk sharply. From a peak of 298 licensed POGOs in 2019, the number fell to 48 in early 2024 and then to 17². Tengco said hundreds of licenses had been placed on "probationary status" for involvement in scams before he took office in August, and those permits were later deemed illegal².

The formal instrument behind the shutdown is Executive Order No. 74, dated November 5, which banned POGO companies and stopped all applications or renewals of licenses, permits and authorizations, citing national security and public order². It also ordered the creation of a Technical Working Group on Anti-illegal Offshore Gaming Operations and a separate working group on employment recovery and reintegration². The ban followed reports of POGO-related crimes including human trafficking, torture, kidnapping, and fraudulent activities such as credit card scams and cryptocurrency investment fraud¹.

Separately, Tengco said the country's gross gaming revenue is projected to exceed 350 billion pesos ($6.03 billion) this year, above Pagcor's 334 billion peso target and up from 285 billion pesos the previous year¹. He attributed the growth to the electronic gaming sector¹. Pagcor sits directly under the office of the Philippine president, and the bulk of its earnings form part of the national budget¹. Manila's casino resorts, owned by companies including Japan's Universal Entertainment Corp and Melco Resorts & Entertainment Ltd, continue to attract high rollers from China, Japan, South Korea and other countries¹. The online gambling industry emerged in the Philippines in 2016, expanding as operators used the country's liberal gambling laws to target Chinese customers, where gambling is illegal¹.

What it means for players

The POGO ban in the Philippines covers offshore operators licensed by Pagcor to serve customers abroad, most of them in mainland China¹. It does not, on the reported facts, extend to the land-based integrated casino resorts in Manila that draw foreign high rollers¹. Players using offshore sites that held Philippine licenses face the loss of that license by the end of December, and from Jan. 1, 2025, any such operator still running is deemed illegal². What that means for money already held in player accounts, pending withdrawals or complaints has not been reported. For the general rules on where gambling is permitted, see Can I Gamble in the Philippines? and Gambling Laws in Asia. The wider regional pattern of hub closures is covered in Crackdowns on Offshore Online Gambling Hubs in Asia, and the mechanics of losing a permit in What Happens When a Gambling License Is Suspended or Revoked.

What happens next

All remaining POGO licenses are due to be canceled by the end of December 2024¹. From Jan. 1, 2025, operators that continue anywhere in the country are deemed illegal². The two technical working groups created under Executive Order No. 74, one on anti-illegal offshore gaming operations and one on employment recovery and reintegration, are tasked with intensifying the crackdown and handling displaced workers². No further dates have been reported.