As it was reported recently, the Philippines’ President has rejected a recent request which came from the Chinese authorities prompting the Philippines’ officials including the country’s President to ban all sorts of iGaming activities. Following this request, the Chinese authorities expressed their concerns that online gambling activities bring more harm than good.
However, the President of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte decided to reject this proposal due to his concerns that by doing so, he will actually harm the country’s already fragile economy. According to one Reuters report released on Wednesday, the President’s decision was revealed during his meeting in Beijing that took place last week.
He met with the President of China, Xi Jinping who has previously reiterated an important call that the PAGCor which stands for the Philippines Amusement and Gaming Corporation also stops issuing POGO or Philippine Offshore Gaming licenses. Despite initiating temporarily halts on iGaming activities in August this year, the Philippines has already issued around sixty new Philippines Offshore Gaming Operator licenses which represent a massive financial boost of around $53 million in just six months.
China Continually Expressing Concerns
In the meantime, the Chinese officials have been continually expressing their concerns that the majority of the Philippines-based iGaming operators have been targeting its citizens using proxy betting engines. Thanks to these special iGaming provisions called proxy betting, remote players can utilize their mobile phones and live streaming to wager real-money in real-time at brick and mortar gaming facilities.
After many requests from the Chinese officials to ban iGaming activities in the Philippines, the country’s President Rodrigo Duterte reportedly stated that he alongside other country’s officials decided to benefit purely in the interest of the Philippines, so they rejected to ban online gambling activities as requested by the Chinese officials.
In the meantime, all sorts of online gambling activities are banned in mainland China. Commenting on this news, the nation’s spokesperson for its foreign ministry Mr. Shuang revealed more details surrounding this ban last month. In fact, he was the one to call on the Philippines’ officials to take further steps towards banning online gaming activities, so that two nations can together tackle any kind of criminal activities related to the industry including cyber fraud.
Cambodia No Longer Issuing and Renewing iGaming Licenses
One country which decided not to ignore China’s anti-iGaming forces in Cambodia whose officials decided to completely cease issuing as well as renewing iGaming licenses from 2020 as their attempt to tackle down issue related to cyber-criminal. The news came after the country’s Prime Minister Hun Sen declared that the Cambodian government will act in this way in order to preserve the country’s security and public order.
In his official statement, the Prime Minister said that his country will not rely on online gaming licenses in order to bring foreign revenues, but instead, it will focus on developing an economy based on revenues collected from local tourism. Hence, as of the end of 2019, all sorts of arcade and online gambling are illegal in the country.
Since this news was revealed, more than 120,000 Chinese citizens have departed the country according to one news report. Commenting on the issue, the spokesperson for the nation’s Interior Ministry General Department of Immigration, Mr. Bony said the main reason behind Chinese citizens departing is this newly placed ban on iGaming activities which has forced those citizens who relied on the iGaming industry to move somewhere else or return home.
