đź“·PAGCOR chief Al Tengco
THE supposed ban on the Philippine offshore gaming operations (POGO) in the country just might not pull off as planned following the admission of Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) chairman Al Tengco that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is considering his proposal – a better POGO version.
During a budget deliberation at the House of Representatives, Tengco said that they are working on what he aptly referred to as special BPO (business process outsourcing) embarking on online gaming, despite the President’s directive to eliminate POGOs in view of the problems it has caused the country.
The Pagcor boss previously asked Marcos to spare 43 licensees from the POGO ban since they are not directly involved in getting bets, even as he claimed that those whom he recommended for retention are in compliance with laws.
“It is of my belief, and up to the time that the President made an announcement, that the 43 legal operators were doing legitimate business and it was giving the government coffers revenue and providing employment to hundreds of thousands of people, directly or indirectly,” he added.
“So while the mandate today, the instruction of the President today is to wind down the operations of all till the end of the year, but who knows, maybe later on we can study and see if it’s possible to have a sort of an upgraded version,” said Tengco who then claimed that the President seemed open to such idea.
According to Tengco, his proposal (for Special BPO) received a positive response from Marcos. (ANGEL F. JOSE)
