Philippine officials say it’s not the reduced POGO tax revenue that has the government concerned. Instead, they’re worried that fewer offshore gaming businesses will cause harm to the country’s economy.<\/p>\n
Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said recently that many Chinese nationals who have come to the Philippines to work in POGO hubs and deal with overseas customers in their Mandarin tongue are returning to China. That is leading to reduced property values, lower personal income taxes, and an overall strain on Filipino businesses.<\/p>\n
Dominguez said he’s heard from commercial building owners who have reported POGO companies canceling their leases. “POGO and service provider clients have started canceling their leasing contracts for lack of business,” Dominguez explained.<\/p>\n
However, Duterte this week denied the country is experiencing an “exodus” of POGOs.<\/p>\n
\nI think the word ‘exodus’ is not correct,” Duterte spokesperson Harry Roque stated Thursday. “It’s not an exodus, because the policy of the Department of Finance is clear: pay up or otherwise you cannot operate in the Philippines.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
“What happened was, only 20 or so of the 60 POGOs complied with the requirements,” he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Philippines government says it’s receiving roughly half of the tax revenue it normally does from offshore gaming. The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) allowed Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators,\u00a0 commonly referred to as POGOs, to resume operations in May. The operation centers for the online casino sites are limited to 30 percent of their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":150065,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[69069,19],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Philippines Offshore Gaming Revenue Sinks Amid COVID-19 Pandemic - Casino.org<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n