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The Philippine government has indicated that one section of the foreign-facing online gambling industry – Special Class of Business Process Outsourcing (SCBPO) licensees – will survive a ban on the sector.
Alejandro Tengco, chairman of gambling regulator PAGCOR, Interior and Local Government secretary Jonvic Remulla and other top Cabinet officials toured two SCBPO facilities on Friday (December 20), with Remulla stating that the licensees fall outside the bounds of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s ban from January 1.
PAGCOR-credentialed SCBPO licensees present the “legal side to [operations] that provides good jobs, that is not involved in scamming, and there is no crime,” Remulla said in onsite comments (in Filipino) quoted on the LinkedIn page for Marie Antonette Quiogue, a lawyer representing the two companies.
“So, after this year … [enforcement agencies] will be inspecting companies like this. This might reopen the possibility of different agencies raiding them.
“To make it very clear, these are legitimate, job-creating, and legal entities that are operating,” Remulla said.
The tour, which was conducted by a Technical Working Group established under banning foreign-facing gambling operations, included justice, immigration and labour officials as well as representatives from the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Anti-Money Laundering Council.
The delegates “observed firsthand how SCBPOs operate as regular BPO companies, delivering essential services to legitimate gaming companies abroad”, Quiogue said.
Remulla “provided an unequivocal assurance that SCBPOs will not be subject to raids or undue disruptions, emphasising that enforcement agencies are focusing their efforts on facilitating the exit of POGOs and other entities explicitly covered” by Marcos’ executive order, she said.
POGOs – short for Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators, a term formally replaced by Internet Gaming Licensees (IGLs) ahead of the ban – have been at the core of a long-term criminal infiltration of the Philippine foreign-facing online gambling industry and the eventual excising of the regulated market mid-year.
PAGCOR’s Tengco, who has championed this part of the industry as reputable and worthy of protection since before the ban was announced, told the tour that SCBPO licensees are a “growing industry with a lot of potential”, according to Quiogue’s post.
“They currently have around 2,000 employees, but their commitment in the next three years is to double that number to 4,000 employees,” Tengco said.
“That’s why PAGCOR is paying attention to it,” he added. “And what’s really important here is that we are providing jobs for our countrymen. And now we will see this happen.”
Under , at least 90 percent of SCBPO staff must be Filipino, unlike former POGO operations, which were dominated by often illegally procured Chinese staff who targeted China-based customers.
SCBPOs are authorised to operate call centres, complaint and registration services, VIP services, as well as process player rewards, marketing and promotions, and monitor fraudulent activity, the rules say.
However, they are not permitted to process bets or payouts in customer accounts, cannot “directly engage” in gambling activity, and can only service foreign operators.
Quiogue argued in a November 8 post that SCBPOs fall outside Marcos’ ban on POGOs because they do not engage in the now-banned provision of services to Philippine-based POGOs, and because exclusive provision of services to foreign-based entities has not been prohibited.
Senators such as Mark Villar, a Cabinet official under former President Rodrigo Duterte, promised a safe haven for SCBPO companies and staff during a site tour in September.
However, anti-gambling senators and other groups hostile to the online gambling industry are yet to respond to the Technical Working Group’s position on SCBPOs.
Leading lawmakers have warned that legislation may be needed to follow up Executive Order 74 to ensure that no loopholes remain for the industry to exploit. It was not immediately clear if SCBPOs were to be targeted by such legislation.
