Renown supplier of online casino content, Play’n GO has recently received authorization from the Philippines Amusement and Gaming Corp (PAGCOR) to offer its online casino content to the country’s market. This development marks a huge milestone for the company as it continues to expand its global footprint, especially within the Asia-Pacific region.
Founded in 2005, Play’n GO has evolved tremendously since its early days and is now considered to be one of the leading suppliers of a diverse range of online gaming products in the rapidly online gaming industry. It also happens to be one of the earlier adopters of mobile-based innovation in the online casino industry and therefore it has had just enough to iteratively improve its top-of-the-world mobile gaming option.
PAGCOR’s Efforts to Clean Up the Market
The revelation that Play’n GO had received authorization to offer services to the Philippine market came just as the country’s gaming regulator began a crackdown on unregulated gambling operations within the country’s borders.
This all begun with a warning issued by the PAGCOR late last years – the regulator warned all the gambling operators operating illegally in the country that they would “face dire consequences” if they failed to cease and desist or seek the necessary authorization. Obtaining the required authorization would require the companies to obtain the so-called Philippine Offshore Gambling Operator (POGO) licenses from PAGCOR. With these licenses, the online gambling operators would be allowed to offer offshore gambling services to the country’s citizens.
To deal with operators that fail to comply, the regulator said that it would be strengthening its policies and practices – this was primarily intended to help it to monitor the local industry. Operators that fail to comply would either be subject to the deportation of their foreign workers or they would be charged at the courts of law for breaching the country’s gaming laws.
The Challenges
Naturally, as regulatory pressures continue to mount, the illegal gaming operators are beginning to get quite crafty. A typical scenario is the establishment of a home-based or apartment-based unit usually with former employees of legitimate gambling firms as well as undocumented foreigners.
Dealing with such a scenario seems to be pretty straightforward but the job of the task force that has been mandated to deal with such issues has been made very difficult some government officials’ inconsistent stances when it comes to dealing with undocumented Chinese immigrants. Nonetheless, PAGCOR has been unrelenting in its mission to rid the Philippine gaming market of these and unregulated gambling operators. This will be beneficial to the government, the consumer themselves and authorized operators such as Play’n GO.