14,000 Illegal Foreign Workers in Philippines Online Gaming Industry

26.09.2019, 15:20

Online offshore gambling is vital to the Philippines economy, but the rate at which the number of unauthorized foreign workers is increasing is becoming alarming. Recently, a Philippine senator has called for the government to ban illegal offshore online gambling, citing that it is causing more damage than good.

The report shows that most of the Philippine Online Gambling Operators (POGO) do not have legal documents to carry out the business. POGOs may be permitted to continue operating in the Philippines if only they follow the law.

According to Manila Standards report, the director of the country local employment bureau Dominic Tutay addressed the media on Monday, September 23rd. He confirmed that about 14,000 of the POGO foreign workers do not have working permits. This figure was obtained from an inspection that involved 177 Philippine Online Gambling Operators service providers.

While addressing the press, Dominic Tutay cited that 6,000 POGO workers do not meet the Bureau of Immigration requirements, while the other 8,000 lack Alien employment permit (AEP).
This number is an indication that plenty of POGO employees are not licensed. Acer Barbers claims that, among the recently licensed POGOs, 46 do not have permits to operate in the Philippines and the other countries they are operating. His words to the press were “The alleged ‘kolorum’ (a local term for unlicensed) POGOs operating in the country may undermine the local anti-money laundering and anti-drug and criminality campaigns.”

Following this investigation, the Department of Labor has reached out to the Immigration Bureau and is calling for lawful action against all the foreign employees that operate without the relevant documents.

On the other hand, there is good news for the POGOs affected. Labor and Employment Department has opened a stopover shop, to allow the foreign workers to collect their work permits and immigration documents. Those who want to comply with the law can now obtain all the necessary documents before starting their job.

Finally, the government has come up with alarming tax duties, and the POGOs have not yet met the requirement. The government will be strict on all the POGOs who will fail to remit their tax bills, and they will term them as spies and raid them for being in the country for ambiguous reasons. If these restrictions weren’t enough, the Philippines have banned Chinese nationals from acquiring more POGO licenses, fearing spies.