Inside Asian Gaming

IAG OCT 2019年10月 亞博匯 28 COVER STORY with which gambling – especially online gambling and proxy betting – apparently contradicts,” an executive requesting anonymity writes in response to questions. The executive has observed multiple “signals that are definitely not in the gaming industry’s favor,” with implications beyond the current online gaming debate. REVENUE STREAMING After meeting with President Xi in late August, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said he would consider a halt to cross border gaming. That statement sent property shares tumbling on the Manila stock exchange, since POGOs are a leading source of demand for office space. Within days, Duterte decided POGOs would stay, citing their domestic economic impact. “There’s absolutely no reason why the Philippines would want to curtail it,” Dylan said. PAGCOR collected an estimated US$150 million in taxes and fees from POGO operations last year. Establishing an online casino business requires a US$150,000 application and processing fee, US$200,000 license fee and triennial US$150,000 renewal fee. Online casinos also pay a 2% fee on gross gaming revenue. Operators say fees under PAGCOR have more than doubled and in some cases quadrupled compared to levies under previous regulators. PAGCOR did not respond to questions regarding offshore betting regulation by press time. For the first eight months of this year, POGOs overtook business process outsourcing (BPO) as the largest demand driver for office space, accounting for 38% of the transacted space in Metro Manila – compared with 24% in 2018 – and 35% of transacted space nationally, according to Leechiu Property Consultants. As reported by Philippine news network ABS-CBN, Leechiu estimates that POGOs make