Philippines Plans to Set Up Hubs for Online Casinos

Claire Jiao, Bloomberg News

Scientific Games Corp. gaming chips sit on a table during the Global Gaming Expo Asia (G2E Asia) in Macau, China, on Tuesday, May 21, 2019. The expo runs through May 23. , Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- The Philippines plans to set up hubs for online casinos catering to Chinese and other foreign markets, its chief gaming regulator Andrea Domingo said in a speech in Manila.

“We want to show that POGO is legal and is here to stay,” Domingo said, referring to Philippine offshore gaming operators. The industry employs about 138,000 mostly Chinese workers in online casinos catering to gamblers from the mainland.

Government has set up tax and labor rules to lure illegal gaming outfits to register, and will start issuing licenses to POGO workers, she said.

Read: U.S., Europe Gamblers Are Philippine Online Casinos Next Targets

To contact the reporter on this story: Claire Jiao in Manila at cjiao5@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Cecilia Yap at cyap19@bloomberg.net, Clarissa Batino