Philippines regulator lifts moratorium and greenlights new casinos

The Philippines regulator Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) announced Friday that, after three years, it will lift a moratorium on the establishment of new casinos sanctioned by President Rodrigo Duterte, as he said the government needed new sources of revenue for its pandemic response. 

As reported by Business Inquirer, Pagcor chair and CEO Andrea Domingo stated that the agency is ready to execute the president’s directive along with a new set of safeguards to ensure that minors are kept away from gambling activities. 

“It was the President who imposed the moratorium in 2018. Now he has lifted it, we will implement new policies”, she said. 

The Pagcor chief explained the lifting of the moratorium pertains to the proposed integrated casino and resort back in 2017, which was planned to be located on Boracay Island. The construction activities were ordered to stop a few months later amid strong opposition from the public. 

That casino was going to be built and operated by publicly listed Leisure and Resorts World Corp., and its foreign partner, Galaxy Entertainment, one of the largest casino operators in Macau, China. 

Despite the moratorium lifting, Domingo said that no new casinos will be built in Pagcor Entertainment City in Parañaque, as there is no more room considering the four existing ones, which are Solaire Resort and Casino, City of Dreams, Okada Manila and the currently under construction venture of Malaysia’s Genting Group and Megaworld Corp. 

“From what I heard, the casino is in Boracay”, she said, and clarified that there is no ban on any integrated casino resorts for other locations like Clark, Pampanga, where Pagcor licensees such as Mimosa, Midori, Donggwang, and Widus operate.

Other Pagcor casino licenses are located or set to locate in Cebu, such as businessman Dennis Uy’s Emerald casino, Hong Kong-based Asian Gaming Group’s Millennium casino, and Gokongwei Group’s Universal casino.