Philippines Gaming License

Who regulates gambling in the Philippines?

PAGCOR, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation, regulates gambling in the Philippines. Presidential Decree 1869 created PAGCOR in 1983, and Republic Act 9487 extended its franchise in 2007, to 2033. Republic Act 12312 then removed the licensing powers of the economic zone authorities, including the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority. One gaming regulator now covers the whole country.

Four other agencies shape an application. The Securities and Exchange Commission registers the company. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas sets the payment rules. The Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) enforces Republic Act 9160, as amended by Republic Act 10927 and Republic Act 11521, which brought casinos into scope. The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) collects the franchise tax.

Two roles still sit inside one agency: PAGCOR regulates gambling and also operates the Casino Filipino chain. PAGCOR plans to separate them by selling those branches, a process it calls decoupling. Reported timing runs from late 2026 into 2027, with completion targeted for 2028. Senate Bill 2814 would go further by creating an independent Philippine Gaming Commission (Asia Gaming Brief and Philstar, December 2025 to July 2026). Treat the split as a plan, not a finished fact.

What types of PAGCOR gaming licenses are there?

PAGCOR issues a Gaming License for each game offering at a licensed gaming venue. The offerings are traditional bingo, electronic bingo, electronic casino games, sports betting, specialty games, online poker and numeric games. Online play rides on a venue license as an adjunct service for registered players. Suppliers hold accreditations rather than licenses.

Source: PAGCOR Electronic Gaming Licensing Department, list of game offerings and accreditation categories.

The offshore template of a B2C operator license and a B2B provider license does not map onto these categories. PAGCOR builds its structure around the venue and the game offering first, then accredits the platform, the content and the services behind it.

The Philippine Inland Gaming Operator scheme (PIGO), introduced in 2020, follows the same rule. Domestic online play extends an existing land-based license instead of standing on its own. PAGCOR states that a service provider's platform and games must be offered at the gaming venue. Remote operation counts as an adjunct service for registered players.

Is the offshore (POGO) license still available?

No. Republic Act 12312, the Anti-POGO Act of 2025, bans offshore gaming outright. President Marcos signed the act on 23 October 2025. Section 5 permanently revoked every POGO and Internet Gaming Licensee (IGL) permit. The same section cancelled the power of PAGCOR and the economic zones to issue new ones. Section 18 repealed Republic Act 11590.

Penalties reach 12 years in prison and fines of up to PHP 50 million. Foreign offenders face deportation after sentence and a permanent ban on re-entry.

Executive Order 74 closed the sector first in November 2024, and Republic Act 12312 wrote that closure into law a year later. Section 3(f) defines offshore gaming as online games of chance run on a network or software operating in the Philippines and aimed at offshore players.

POGO and PIGO differ by market, not by technology. POGO served players outside the Philippines and is now criminal. PIGO serves players inside the Philippines and remains lawful. Any Philippine offer built on CEZA, Cagayan or Asian market reach describes a regime that no longer exists.

What are the requirements for a Philippines gaming license?

PAGCOR requires a Philippine company registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission, with ownership inside the 40% foreign equity cap. A written compliance stack and a probity check on owners and senior officers come next. Gaming systems must sit on servers inside the Philippines behind geo-fencing, with games certified by an accredited laboratory.

The full checklist runs as follows.

• Philippine company registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission, with a local address and resident officers

• Foreign equity inside the 40% cap set by Executive Order 175, unless an investment agreement with PAGCOR applies

• AML and KYC manual aligned with Republic Act 9160 as amended, plus registration with the Anti-Money Laundering Council

• Player protection, data privacy and responsible gaming programmes, with a minimum player age of 21

• Probity and background checks on beneficial owners, directors and senior officers, run through a PAGCOR-accredited probity checker

• Gaming systems hosted in the Philippines, with geo-fencing that blocks players outside the country

• Games and random number generators certified by an accredited independent testing laboratory

• Payment arrangements that exclude credit cards and cryptocurrency

Gambling is a partly nationalized activity under the Foreign Investment Negative List, which is why the cap exists. Executive Order 175 carries one exception to it: gambling covered by an investment agreement with PAGCOR. That carve-out is how foreign-majority integrated resorts operate in the Philippines. Whether a specific structure qualifies is a question for Philippine counsel, not a marketing claim.

Paid-up capital sits outside PAGCOR's published documents. The PAGCOR Schedule of Regulatory Fees sets application fees and performance cash deposits, not a capital floor. Vendor pages quote PHP 25 million, PHP 100 million, PHP 440 million and USD 440,000 for the same requirement. None of those figures appears in the schedule. Confirm capital with Philippine counsel before committing to a structure.

What taxes and fees apply?

Licensed operators pay PAGCOR a license fee on gross gaming revenue, plus an audit fee. A 5% franchise tax goes to the national government. Chambers and Partners put the license fee at 30% of gross gaming revenue for e-games, electronic bingo and virtual sports. Live sports betting and specialty games both pay 15%.

The audit fee runs at 10% of the PAGCOR share, roughly another 3% of gross gaming revenue. Government therefore collects about 35% to 38% of gross gaming revenue in total. The share stood above 50% before 2023 (Chambers and Partners, 27 October 2025).

A 5% rate often appears in Philippine licensing copy as a substitute for corporate income tax. That claim came from Republic Act 11590, which taxed offshore operators, and Republic Act 12312 repealed the law in October 2025. The 5% franchise tax on gross gaming revenue is separate from PAGCOR fees and sits on top of them.

Corporate income tax, VAT and withholding treatment depend on the entity and the game offering. Confirm all three with Philippine counsel before modelling a business case.

What payment methods are allowed?

PAGCOR bars credit cards and cryptocurrency as funding methods for betting. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas ordered e-wallet providers to strip links and icons pointing at gambling platforms on 14 August 2025. GCash and Maya complied by 17 August. Bank transfers and over-the-counter channels remain.

Online gaming revenue fell about 49% after the delinking. Monthly income dropped from PHP 5.7 billion in May 2025 to PHP 2.9 billion in September 2025 (PAGCOR figures via the Philippine News Agency). Payment routing now breaks more Philippine launches than licensing does.

Crypto-friendly positioning belongs to offshore jurisdictions. That positioning does not survive contact with PAGCOR rules, so budget for a domestic payment stack from the start.

What are the advantages of a Philippines gaming license?

A PAGCOR license opens one of Asia's largest regulated domestic gambling markets. Published rules, a fee schedule in a single currency and an accredited supplier base are already in place. Total industry gross gaming revenue reached PHP 88.1 billion in the second quarter of 2026, and electronic games produced PHP 36.2 billion of that.

• Volume is real. PAGCOR publishes quarterly industry data, so a market model rests on the regulator's own numbers.

• Fee schedules run per game offering in Philippine pesos, which makes a cost model auditable line by line.

• Accredited suppliers already serve licensed operators, which cuts integration time for platforms, content and payment services.

• The POGO ban drew a hard boundary and removed the ambiguity that surrounded Philippine licensing before 2025.

• B2B accreditation opens a separate route for platforms, studios and service providers that do not want to hold an operator license.

What are the disadvantages and limitations of a Philippines gaming license?

Five limits shape any Philippine plan. Play may not leave the country. New online licenses have been suspended since March 2024. Foreign equity in gambling is capped at 40%. Credit cards and cryptocurrency are barred for betting. Government levies reach roughly 35% to 38% of gross gaming revenue.

Legislative risk stays live. Philippine senators have filed bills that would tighten online gambling further, and the Senate is drafting a new online gaming framework together with PAGCOR. Reported intent points to stricter regulation rather than prohibition (BusinessMirror, 26 March 2026).

Advertising is already restricted. Gambling advertisements are barred during primetime television and radio hours, outdoor advertising has been removed, and PAGCOR has said a full-day ban is under study.

How does the Philippines compare with other gaming licenses?

The Philippines differs from offshore jurisdictions on the point that matters most, which is market reach. A PAGCOR license covers players inside the Philippines. Curacao and Anjouan licenses serve international markets instead. Malta covers regulated European markets under its own rules. The table sets the four side by side.

Figures for the other three come from their own pages, current as of August 2026: Curacao, Anjouan, Malta. A PAGCOR license carries no European Union passporting, so no Philippine track reaches regulated European markets.

Why MGL

MGL works the Philippines inside the post-POGO rules. The scope covers the venue track, B2B accreditation and probity preparation. MGL also structures ownership against the 40% cap and builds payment arrangements that satisfy Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas rules. Where a plan needs offshore-facing traffic, MGL says so and points to a jurisdiction that allows it.

Most clients arrive with an offshore plan. MGL tests it against Republic Act 12312 first, so nobody pays for a license that cannot carry the intended traffic.

Ownership is the usual blocker. MGL structures the company against the 40% cap and flags early when the investment agreement route needs Philippine counsel.

Payments break more launches than licensing. MGL builds the payment plan around the credit card and cryptocurrency ban before the application goes in.

MGL has delivered 300+ licenses for operators and suppliers across offshore, onshore and tier-1 regimes. The full gambling license range sits on the licensing hub.