Inside Asian Gaming

IAG APR 2021年4月 亞博匯 72 COLUMNISTS contains roughly 7.2 million square-meters of total office space. During aSenatehearing inMarch, theAMLC flagged some Php14 billion (US$287 million) in suspicious transactions over the previous two-year period by offshore gaming operators. The hearing proceeded to highlight other aspects within these operations that brought “dirty money” into the country, even into 2021. Senators continued to make accusations that the industry was largely focused on driving revenue as opposed to running clean operations. They also highlighted China’s desire to stop online gambling and Beijing’s continued effort to crack down on these activities outside of their borders. Taxation has been debated for several years among other potential reforms to the current system. Much of this has stemmed from the desire to capture more revenue from the industry that was growing exponentially up until the Great Shutdown. Recent reforms to the taxation policy would allow licensed POGOs to be taxed at a rate of 5% of gross gaming revenue, and workers earning over Php600,000 would have a 25% withholding tax. This would replace the taxes generated previously through the franchise taxes, levies and fees. However, existing POGO operators are challenging the new model. While this challenge continues, the revenue fromPOGOswill have gone down in 2021. This is because of the crackdown and other factors that have driven operators from the market, but also because of the current economic conditions of the industry. Current estimates show that POGO revenue in 2021 will decrease by about 50%. POGOs workers also continue to be a problem because of the number of foreign workers that are in the country, particularly Chinese workers. In 2020, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) stated that that over 200,000 POGO workers had been issued foreign work permits in the previous two years. Over 處理其他幾個問題，從而把這些業務以及與個別POGO有關聯的 服務提供者曝光，當中最重要的就是於今年年初開始執行的反洗 黑錢法案，但這並不只針對POGO及他們的服務提供者，亦是要監 察地產經紀及發展商。該法案要求成立一個新的反洗黑錢委員會 (Anti-Money Laundering Council, AMLC)。這個委員會是在菲律 賓市場被加入亞洲太平洋反清洗黑錢組織(Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering)的觀察名單後為了防止該國受到財務行動特 別組織(Financial Action Task Force)的制裁而成立的。 地產經紀及發展商之所以被牽涉其中，是由於POGO在菲律 賓主要都市區域之中所佔用的大量空間。他們的所佔面積只僅次 於雄霸馬尼拉及周邊地區地產市場的業務流程外判產業(busi- ness process operations, BPO)。雖然對於辦公室空間需求的增 長已經放緩，但POGO就據報仍佔用超過130萬平方米的空間。整 個市場的總辦公室面積則約為720萬平方米。 AMLC在3月的一次參議院聽證當中指出，離岸博彩營運商在 過去兩年間進行了總數約140億披索(2.87億美元)的可疑交易。該 聽證隨後特別提到這些業務運作之中的其他範疇亦有把「污糟錢」 帶進該國，而且問題在2021年依然持續。參議員們隨後指控該業界 把重心放在推動收入而非營運乾淨業務之上。他們亦指出了中國 希望制止網上博彩，以及北京在打擊境外的這些活動的持續努力。 在眾多對現時制度的潛在改革之中，對於稅務改革的討論已 持續多年。這些討論大部分都是源於希望從這個在大停擺前持續