Pagcor studies new gaming concept

The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) is studying the concept of running its own Internet gaming that will cater to overseas customers, an official of the state gaming agency said.

In the Senate Committee on Games and Amusement hearing, Pagcor Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Cristino Naguiat said Pagcor is considering leveling up from entering the online gaming community, stating that the agency could generate at least P500-million initial revenue.

“We’re really studying this Internet gaming. The estimated take for 2011 from the internet gaming is about $30 billion so we’d like to be part of it,” Naguiat told the committee during the hearing last Tuesday.

“But we don’t just want to go there because we might fail so we’re really studying it and we’re talking to technical (experts)," he said.

The committee heard Pagcor’s overview on the state of games and amusement promotion and development in the Philippines.

Unlike e-games which Pagcor described as a brand of online betting shops which has a server-based set-up, Internet gaming is web-based and the customers can play against either the software or human beings. In e-games, Players can only play against the software.

The concept of Internet gaming is that betting would be done outside the country where Internet gaming is allowed and not inside the country. Pagcor will set up “control mechanisms” to ensure no Filipinos or foreigners within the Philippines would be able to access the website and play.

The IP address would be blocked in the Philippines so that it could not be accessed by anyone within the country.

“No nationals will be allowed to access, log in or play through the installation of software. They will not be allowed to pay using locally issued credit card, local bank accounts,” said Jay Santiago, Pagcor’s chief legal counsel.

Naguiat said Eagle Sky, Oxford, and Fontana—gaming entities that are all based in Clark Pampanga have been issued permits by the previous management of Pagcor but until now they have not yet started their operations.

He stressed Pagcor is strongly against betting inside a residential house in the Philippines; that was why it disapproved a similar proposal by Philweb Corp.

Pagcor believes that the gaming industry in the Philippines can improve by earning the support of the private sector.

As early as 2007, Pagcor started exploring the prospects of issuing licenses to private investors with the objective of establishing integrated resorts. The first efforts came in 2009 when Resorts World Manila opened.

Pagcor officials say they are now anticipating four more world-class resorts to open starting in 2013 at the Entertainment City Manila (ECM), which will rise on a 100-hectare master planned complex by the Manila Bay.

A total of $4 billion in investments in hotels, retail areas, events centers, and casinos is expected to be generated once the four private sector proponents for the ECM consigns.

Naguiat said the ECM is projected to further boost foreign and domestic tourism.

By HANNAH L. TORREGOZA
mb.com.ph

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