Pagcor to issue online gambling licenses

Tuesday 23rd of August 2016

Pagcor has confirmed it will soon be issuing online gaming licenses for operators that target overseas punters, a move that could help offset losses from deciding not to renew permits for services used by local Filipinos.

"We're readying the application forms. It's no longer the Filipinos who are betting but foreigners," Andrea Domingo, head of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (Pagcor), told reporters after a budget hearing at the House of Representatives, according to Reuters.

Domingo did not mention how many of these licenses would be offered, but said they would be issued for six months initially and that Pagcor plans to charge “high fees”.

"We don't know yet how saleable it is," she said. "There might be no takers, or there could be many applicants,” she said.

The permits would be offered on a first-come-first-serve basis and renewed after six months.

"If it is profitable then we will finetune," she said, adding the issuance of permits will be "very transparent".

Domingo added the fees collected could help offset the loss of around P10 billion ($215 million) in annual revenues after the government’s decision not to renew the licences of e-bingo and e-games outlets.

Interactive Gaming Sports Betting Online License Foreign