Lawmakers, businesses against outright ban on POGOs

September 29, 2022 Philippines Crime & Legal

A section of lawmakers and some businesses are against an outright ban on POGOs, citing the potential economic impact. This comes after the Philippine government’s announcement of a major crackdown on illegal online casinos and Chinese overstayers.

The government generated 7.2 billion pesos ($122.2 million) in 2020 and 3.9 billion pesos last year in licensing fees alone from POGOs, according to the finance department.

Gambling operations have displaced call center companies as the single biggest driver of property demand, according to Leechiu Property Consultants Chief Executive David Leechiu. These operations are also the key drivers for the housing and rentals market.

According to him, the exit of the remaining POGOs, which occupy more than 1 million square meters of office space nationwide, will lead to bigger losses.

“The problem is not the POGO industry. The problem is all the illegal operators that are skirting the law. The solution to that is enforcement,” Leechiu said in an interview televised on the One News channel last week.

“A total ban in the POGO sector will be [bad]. There’s got to be a better way around it,” he said.

Joey Salceda, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said regulation, not an outright ban, is the solution. A complete prohibition of these firms would only lead to underground operations.

“You cannot stop gambling unless you stop digitalization,” Salceda said in a statement on Tuesday. “The solution is to just regularize and regulate.”

Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, who chairs the Senate Ways and Means Committee, has called for another probe into the issue.

“Clearly, any economic benefit that we derive from POGO operations should substantially outweigh any social cost that we must bear in exchange for their presence in the country,” Gatchalian said in a statement.