The head of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (PAGCOR), Andrea Domingo, may want the country’s president to relax his position on gambling and new casinos, but she shouldn’t hold her breath while she waits for it to happen. President Rodrigo Duterte has not addressed the moratorium implemented in January of last year and, until that happens, no news is not necessarily good news for the casino industry.
According to a spokesperson for Duterte, Salvador S. Panelo, “Until such time as he makes a formal statement on the matter, I think whatever his former position was, subsists.”
The comments came following Domingo’s interview with Bloomberg last month regarding the state of gambling in the Philippines. She asserted at the time that she believed the moratorium should be at least partially lifted in order to allow the country to benefit from a “sunrise” industry. She also told the news outlet that she had hopes of being able to meet with Duterte to discuss the issue further.
Even after Duterte dropped the hammer slightly more than a year ago, there were still a number of new casino projects announced and at least one reportedly broke ground. Whether or not these were because the developers never got the memo or because they thought they could outwit Duterte isn’t clear, but virtually all activity has since come to a grinding halt.
Without any new information from Duterte, it isn’t clear how long the moratorium could be in effect. The president is known for his tenacity and isn’t afraid of ruffling a few feathers to do what he feels is right for the country. As long as he’s convinced the moratorium needs to be in place, odds are good that the status quo won’t change.
Despite the moratorium on new casino construction, the gambling industry in the Philippines doesn’t appear to be suffering. It reported gross gaming revenue of $3.58 billion for last year, which was a 22.9% increase over 2017. PAGCOR, prior to Duterte’s moratorium, already had a five-year suspension on new licenses in place for Manila, citing the potential for an oversupply in the market. That suspension was introduced in 2017 and only applied to Manila – other areas in the country were still open to the market until Duterte passed down his resolution at the beginning of last year.
