Philippine Online Casino
The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) was established in 1976 and soon after got a contract to operate a floating casino in the Manila Bay. The floating casino burned up two years later and the corporation swiftly turned their focus to land-based casinos.
Eventually, PAGCOR would become the sole government agency establishing regulation of casinos in the country other than the Cagayan-Freeport area. Today they regulate and enforce Philippine gambling laws over multiple casinos, poker rooms, and sports betting service while employing more than 11,000 workers.
Creation Of PAGCOR
PAGCOR was created by the Philippine government by order of Presidential Decree 1067-A and effectively consolidated its powers through PD No. 1869. The organization is now one of the top three major contributors to revenue for the country.
Officially under the Office of the President, PAGCOR has made a good name for itself by providing for the community and helping bring regulation to the casino gambling community. In 2007, PAGCOR got a 25-year extension on its regulation and licensing arrangements for the country extending its control until the year 2032.
To put it simply, you can play all the games you want to at offshore casino sites without worrying about legal repercussions. While there are no legal casinos in the Philippines online, offshore sites are the closest you get. Filipino players can enjoy a wide range of free online slots and casino games online. Many Philippine online casinos offer live versions of blackjack, baccarat, roulette, etc. Other Games – As well as all of the above, online casinos Philippines, can offer many other options. There’s everything from bingo and dice games (craps and sic bo), to scratchcards, virtual sports, and mini-games. Finally, note that though you will find very few online casinos with direct GCash payment option but local Philippine casinos accept GCash. Also, you can link Paypal or e-wallets to Gcash which makes things easier at online casinos to make a deposit with this method.
Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation: The Vision And Mission
PAGCOR currently operates its own casinos and VIP slot rooms while overseeing regulation to privately owned casinos, e-game cafés, and bingo parlors across the country. They are the only licensing agency for all the casinos and online casinos based in the Philippines except for the Cagayan-Freeport area which has its own set of regulators.
Current residents are permitted to play Philippine legal online casinos that are not operating within the borders of the country. The same implies to poker games. There are multiple poker rooms located in the brick and mortar casinos locally, and some of these destinations also offer online poker sites, however, these domestically based sites are not available to Filipino players.
Residents of the country may only play via offshore poker sites that accept Philippine players because domestic casinos are not permitted to offer their online poker services to Philippine residents at this time. Since some offshore sites don’t process transactions using the Philippine Peso (PHP), online players will find multiple deposit options available across the web that are friendly to Filipinos. PAGCOR is currently in the process of selling off the casinos that they own as the government has decided that PAGCOR should be a regulatory agency and not an operator.
PAGCOR also regulates the sports betting service MegaSportsWorld (MSW). MSW has gaming stations across the country that offer in-store and telephone betting to their players. Sports betting in the Philippines is also allowed to residents via licensed offshore sites.
Sports betting is big in the area and many residents claim to use the offshore services to access better odds and paylines. Philippine legal horse race betting and betting on cockfighting is also allowed and licensed by other government agencies such as PRC and governed by PHILRACOM and GAB.
PAGCOR hopes to make the Philippines a top gaming and entertainment destination in all of Asia by 2020. They intend to use their resources and revenue to create an environment that drives the gaming and entertainment industry while keeping the integrity they were founded on. They also wish to use their revenue to be a responsible partner and assist the government to build structures and develop building programs for the community.
Entertainment City - PAGCOR's Efforts To Duplicate Vegas
Entertainment City (E-City) is one of the structures that is designed to catapult the island nation to a premium gambling destination. It is PAGCOR’s newest development in Manila City and is already receiving rave reviews for its massive luxury casino resorts.
E-City is made up of 4 resort casinos: Resorts World Manila, Okada Manila, City of Dreams, and Solaire Resort & Casino. PAGCOR would only issue licensing for casinos that would agree to spend over 1 billion USD on their structures. They basically intended to build a strip of casinos and resorts in the middle of the bay area to rival what you see in Vegas.
PAGCOR is rumored to be trying to build a viewing tower like the Seattle Space Needle. If constructed, it would be one of the tallest structures in the world. E-City is already a spectacle in the Philippines and the PAGCOR tower would just add to the allure of Entertainment City.
Community - PAGCOR Makes A Difference
PAGCOR has been doing a lot more than just regulating casinos across Metro Manila and the rest of the Philippines. The government corporation also oversees many community events and helps fund many charity drives. Over the last several years, it seems like PAGCOR has had their hands in everything from disaster relief to the funding of sporting games for children.
They recently made headlines when they turned old slot machine stands into armchairs for school children and when they used confiscated illegal logs to make thousands of school desks and armchairs for grade school students. They have even had their hands in building schools in conjunction with the Department of Education. As of March 2016, PAGCOR and its partners have completed construction of over 2,000 classrooms in over 400 cities across the country.
After 42 years of service, PAGCOR has truly made a positive difference in the Philippines and affected many people’s lives in a good way. It's nice to see a government agency and a President that doesn’t particularly agree with gambling, utilize the industry, create and exploit tourism to give back to the people that need it most. PAGCOR is a blessing to many people from the tourist that can legally play their casino games to the school kids who desperately need updated school materials.
Casino gambling in the Philippines is governed by two specific jurisdictions within the Islands: the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) and the Cagayan Special Economic Zone.
These two gaming districts handle the licensing and regulation of the various brick and mortar casinos found throughout the nation. Along with land-based casino gambling, PAGCOR also licenses and regulates online gambling businesses.
Despite being licensed by a Filipino district, the online gambling businesses operating out of this region are not permitted to offer their services to Filipino players. They are legally allowed to offer their betting and gambling services to players outside of the Philippines Islands.
Are Online Casinos Legal In The Philippines?
It is not illegal to operate an online casino in the Philippines, however, it is illegal to offer casino gambling services to Filipino players when operating an online casino that is based within the nation’s borders. However, Filipino players still have access to legally sanctioned online casino gambling through licensed and regulated offshore casino destinations online.
If there were any doubt as to this fact, a court case from 2012 resulted in a ruling that verified that the Philippines gambling laws do not prohibit players from participating in placing bets online. This means that Filipino players can legally enjoy online casino gambling at destinations that are licensed, regulated and located outside of the Philippines.
In addition, it is perfectly legal for players to access and bet at mobile sites as long as they are operated by licensed and regulated offshore casino operators. You can learn more about the legalities in different areas in our guide to Philippines legal casino gambling by region.
Gambling Laws Explained
Presidential Decree No.1067-a (1975)
PD No. 1067-A created the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) and defines legal gambling in the Philippines. The Decree also defines PAGCOR’s powers and functions and how funding will be provided to the government corporation and how revenue will be collected and used by PAGCOR. Signed into in law in 1975 by then president Ferdinand Marcos.
Presidential Decree No. 1602 (1978)
PD 1602 creates harsher penalties for illegal gambling activities. Section 1 lists activities that are usually associated with legal gambling in the Philippines: Basketball, Boxing, Slots, Poker, Soccer, Football, Volleyball, Horse racing, Pinball and about every other sport you can think of. It states that the punishment for wagering on those games without proper licensing shall be punished by prison and a fine up to 6 thousand pesos (PHP). Section 2 gives an informants reward of 20%.
Presidential Decree No. 1869 (1983)
PD 1869 is the charter of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) of how to properly regulate the gambling industry. It gives guidelines for PAGCOR to follow to authorize, license, and regulate all games of chance within the Philippines while laying out the legal framework for corporations to obtaining licenses.
Republic Act 7922 (1994)
The Republic Act 7922 established a special economic zone in the Cagayan Valley to be known as the Cagayan Economic Zone while including neighboring islands and the city of Freeport. Section 4 of the act lays out governmental principals while section 5 creates the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA). The rest of the act contains legal information about CEZA compensation, supervision, auditing and legal counsels.
Republic Act 9287 (2004)
The Republic Act 9287 was written into law on April 2nd, 2004 and was enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Philippine Congress. The Act increases the penalty for illegal numbers games and its implementing rules.
Executive Order No. 13 (2017)
The second section (2) of Executive Order No. 13 order clearly defines illegal gambling as any activity not authorized by an operator’s licensing authority.Transcribed to combat illegal number game operators in an effort to endorse state-run lottery services. Section 3 reinforces the policy of not allowing Filipino players access to Philippine licensed online casinos and sportsbooks. Outside players are targeted by Filipino online casinos while Philippine players are still allowed to play offshore legally sanctioned online casinos and sportsbooks.
Republic Act 10927 (2017)
Implemented by the Philippine Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) on November 4th, 2017 the Republic Act 10927 entails special requirements for all Philippine-based casinos to follow. The law requires for casino owners to implement risk management policies and to keep records for their players for at least 5 years.
Casino owners are now ordered to allow compliance checks when the AMLC suspects a case of money laundering or terrorist financing. This new act also affects players. Players are now required to give more detailed information about themselves before setting up an account and no more aliases will be accepted.
The AMLC will also now be notified whenever there is a bet or a transaction of $100,000 USD or more. Failure to abide by this new act will result in stiff fines and/or penalties and could lead to a revoke of operating licenses.
House Bill 8910
HB-8910 is a proposed bill that would eliminate e-sabong nationwide if accepted into law. It specifically targets online cockfight betting and seeks to strengthen the Games and Amusement Board's oversight of all professional sports.
Where Can I Find Legally Licensed Online Casinos Accepting Filipino Players?
You could easily do a simple Google search to find a list of online casinos that welcome players from the Philippines. Please allow us to caution you from this course of action. Just because an online casino accepts Filipino players does not make it a legally sanctioned online casino or a high-quality destination that operates according to industry standards and licensing requirements.
One of the objectives for creating this resource guide was to assist players in finding the leading Filipino online casinos operating legally within the industry as well as helping players avoid questionable, predatory or low-quality destinations.
Philippine Online Casinos
This guide provides a listing of recommended Philippines friendly online casinos. The list was comprised following an intense review process that closely examined online casinos that accept players from the Philippines. We carefully evaluated their legal standing within the industry, the existence and validity of their compliance certifications, the quality of their software solutions, services and security profile, and their reputation within the industry.
We literally review hundreds of components of each brand, effectively eliminating undesirable locations while revealing the top brands worth visiting. You can find a list of legal online casinos that accept players in the Philippines here.
Why Can’t I Participate At Online Casinos Located In the Philippines?
Philippine Online Radio
The gambling laws in the Philippines are quite strict when it comes to operating an online casino within the nation’s borders. While these businesses are free to offer casino gambling to players anywhere outside of the Philippines, the law clearly specifies that it is illegal for locally licensed internet gambling sites to offer their services to Filipino citizens.
Thankfully, the law does not simultaneously make it a crime for Filipino players to place bets online, hence players are free to engage in legal online casino gambling from offshore gambling sites. With the gambling industry in the Philippines currently flourishing, it is not outside the realm of possibilities that the laws may evolve to expand the online gambling opportunities within the island region, however, there have not been any moves in this direction thus far.
What Is The Minimum Gambling Age In The Philippines?
Philippine Online Casino
The gambling laws in the Philippines have established that gamblers must be at least 21 years of age in order to participate in casino gambling. This law is taken seriously by the Filipino government in an effort to eliminate the risks of underage gambling.
Violators will face legal consequences. While the laws in the Philippines generously allow offshore online gambling, the legal minimum gambling age still applies to this type of gambling entertainment. That means that if an online casino or poker site allows players to register at age eighteen, Filipino players must still wait until they are twenty-one years old to place bets at these sites. These restrictions established within the nation’s laws trump the policies of gambling websites.
Are There Any Other Forms Of Legal Online Gambling Available For Philippines Residents?
Yes, there is. Legally sanctioned offshore gambling sites that are available to Filipino players include legal Philippines online poker sites and legal Philippines online sports betting sites. The same rules apply to offshore poker sites and sportsbooks, so as long as the gambling sites are not operated within the Philippines, then there is nothing illegal about enjoying real money gambling at these destinations.