Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs), also known as Internet gaming licensees (IGLs) since October 2023, were firms that operated in the Philippines and offered online gambling services to markets outside the country, with a significant portion catering to the Chinese market. POGOs began operating in the Philippines in 2003. In July 2024, during his State of the Nation Address, President Bongbong Marcos announced a total ban on POGOs (IGLs). In November 2024, he signed Executive Order No. 74, which implemented the POGO ban and required all operations to cease by December 31, 2024. However it was not until October 2025 that the ban was codified into law through the Anti-POGO Act.
They have been regulated by the Philippine government since 2016, at the start of Rodrigo Duterte's presidency. During this period, the industry flourished and generated significant revenues for the Philippine government. In 2018, Senator Risa Hontiveros filed a Senate resolution calling for a ban on POGOs due to their alleged tax evasion and other illegal activities. However, by 2021, President Rodrigo Duterte signed a law which instead legalized POGOs, principally authored and sponsored by Senator Pia Cayetano.
In 2024, after a much-televised series of Senate hearings headed by Senators Risa Hontiveros and Sherwin Gatchalian which gave a spotlight on the illegal activities of POGOs in the country, ranging from fake citizenships, murders, torture, illegal detentions, drug use, prostitution, slavery, and money laundering, among many others, POGOs were ultimately banned and declared illegal upon the signing of the Anti-POGO Law championed by senator Risa Hontiveros. The law spearheaded by Hontiveros was signed into law in October 2025 by President Bongbong Marcos.
Background POGOs are online gambling firms that operate in the Philippines but cater to customers outside the country. To operate legally, they must be licensed by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR). They are obliged to restrict any individual in the Philippines, regardless of citizenship, Filipino citizens regardless of location, and potential patrons in countries and territories where offshore gambling is illegal, from availing their services. Failure to do so risks license revocation.
In 2016, PAGCOR started the processing of license applications for POGOs, in an effort to boost its revenue, after it decided not to renew the license of local online gambling firm PhilWeb. There are three license categories. Category 1 involves services that have live streaming, with women online gambling dealers. Category 2 and 3 are sub-sectors of business process outsourcing (BPO), which provide back office support.
However, the IT and Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP), an umbrella industry group of BPOs, do not consider POGOs in general as BPOs. IBPAP's members are registered with either the Philippine Economic Zone Authority or the Board of Investments. POGOs get their license to operate from PAGCOR, a fact the group argues differentiate POGOs from BPOs. Reportedly, legal members of the POGO industry voluntarily started an organization, the Association of Service Providers and POGOs (ASPAP). In 2018, Senator Risa Hontiveros raised the alarm bells in regards to POGO activities in the country, which she found were sources of illegal activities, including tax evasion. She filed a resolution calling for a total ban on POGOs.
In June 2021, the Senate approved a bill principally authored and sponsored by Senator Pia Cayetano, imposing additional taxes on POGOs, effectively legalizing POGO operations in the entire country. The bill, which was supported by 17 senators—Pia Cayetano, Bong Go, Bong Revilla, Imee Marcos, Bato dela Rosa, Joel Villanueva, Manny Pacquiao, Cynthia Villar, Tito Sotto, Migz Zubiri, Sonny Angara, Koko Pimentel, Win Gatchalian, Ralph Recto, Grace Poe, Dick Gordon, and Nancy Binay, was signed into law by President Duterte in September 2021.
In 2024, Senators Risa Hontiveros and Sherwin Gatchalian launched a series of Senate investigation exposing the illegal activities of POGOs in the country. The activities attributed to POGOs ranged from fake citizenships, murders, torture, illegal detentions, drug use, prostitution, slavery, and money laundering, among many others. The investigations also uncovered a high-level espionage network conducted by China against the Philippines, where a mayor, Alice Guo (Guo Hua Ping), was revealed to have a fake Filipino citizenship. It was also revealed that Chinese espionage work intensified in the Philippines beginning in 2016 under the pro-China pivot of former President Rodrigo Duterte. POGOs were ultimately banned and declared illegal upon the enactment of the Anti-POGO Law championed by Senator Risa Hontiveros in October 2025, signed by President Bongbong Marcos.
Prevalence
In 2003, POGO firms, mostly Chinese-backed and based in Metro Manila, began operations, and abruptly increased following the start of the presidency of Rodrigo Duterte in 2016. According to PAGCOR, during its peak in 2019, there were almost 300 licensees. By the end of 2023, stricter regulations reduced the number of operating POGOs to about 75. These reportedly further decreased to 54 by third quarter of 2024; they consist of 33 IGLs, 11 accredited providers, and ten business process outsourcing firms.
Since August 2019, PAGCOR has banned licenses for new firms. KMC Savills Inc. projects that POGOs have utilized at least of office space. While a significant portion of the Philippine offshore gambling industry cater to the Chinese, some serve the Korean and Vietnamese markets.
In 2019, the industry rented more office space than business process outsourcing, purchasing within the first nine months, 34% of total demand. They became the biggest market for new office space in Metro Manila, with 12% of the stock. Annual rents cost for commercial, for residential.
Property consultancy firm Leechiu Property Consultants (LPC) reported that POGOs vacated a total of of office space from 2020, to the third quarter of 2022. In October 2022, LPC reported that POGOs still occupied of office space. Their complete exit would result in an estimated in lost annual office rentals. Also, at the same time, ASPAP reported that their members—128 offices in Metro Manila, Clark and Cavite—occupy the total office space of .
Impact Economy
Since 2015, PAGCOR has been collecting license fees from POGOs, which represent 2% of the Philippines' gross gaming revenue. Revenues from POGOs composed less than 5–6% of the PAGCOR's total income. In addition to license fees, since 2017, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) collects a 5% franchise tax on local providers, as well as income taxes on workers. Some firms were closed due to an alleged failure to pay. Additional taxes on POGOs were imposed upon issuance of Republic Act No. 11590 (An Act Taxing POGOs) by President Rodrigo Duterte in September 2021.
Department of Finance (DoF) data shows that combined taxes collected from POGOs from 2017 to October 2022 reached : by PAGCOR, while by the BIR, since 2018.
In 2019, total collected taxes reached . POGO generated in license fees, according to PAGCOR. National Economic and Development Authority also reported that, at the same year, POGOs contributed —0.67% of the Philippines' gross domestic product. However, revenue from POGOs declined thereafter, especially due to COVID-19 pandemic. By 2023, with decrease of the number of operators, POGO generated in license fees.
In mid-July 2024, DoF reported that the annual net cost of POGO operations is around ; while the estimated total economic benefits of the industry reach —an estimated directly. However, it noted a significantly high economic cost, at an estimated annually, which include the effects of negative reputational risks, impacting foreign direct investments.
Employment
In October 2019, an estimated 470,000 people were employed in the POGO industry, with total annual payroll at . These might included more than a hundred thousand Chinese workers. The government had various reports on the number of Chinese working in the Philippines. In early December 2019, figures from the BIR, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), and PAGCOR suggested that the number ranged from at least 44 to 93 thousand. In May 2019, there were 138,000 foreigners employed by POGOs, with 83,760 of them holders of special work permits, allowing them to stay in the country for six months. Only 17 percent of those employed in POGOs are Filipino nationals. Employment decreased significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Reports, mainly by the BIR, showed that there had been a gradual increase of employment rate of Filipinos in the POGO industry—from 14.19% in 2019, reaching more than half in 2021.
+ Number of workers in licensed POGOsDateFilipinos%Foreigners%TotalSource(s)Mar. 202030,52190,455120,976PAGCOR202013,99128,39442,385BIR202115,74514,83829,583BIROct. 202216,73617,50934,245BIR19,67122,18441,855PAGCOR23,118n/an/an/aASPAP202325,06422,91548,979
Prior to the impending closure of POGOs, there are a total of 48,883 workers—58.2% (or 28,462) are locals—by third quarter of 2024, according to PAGCOR. Meanwhile, DOLE said 26,996 Filipinos are employed by 54 companies, mostly in the National Capital Region and Calabarzon; aside from 2,549 indirect workers. Thousands of former POGO workers including from the Philippines have been recruited to run illegal gaming operations in business process outsourcing firms in Sri Lanka with Colombo Port City held out as a new 'paradise' for ex-workers, reports from the island said in 2026.
Tourism In 2019, tourism arrivals from China ranked second, at 1.74 million tourists, behind first placed tourist source nation, South Korea. Due to the travel ban imposed by China during the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2021, Chinese visitors to the Philippines decreased to 6,615. At that time, China was enforcing a crackdown on gambling operations on its citizens and launched appeals to the Philippine government to stop POGOs.
Issues and controversies The POGO industry has been criticized for being a symbol of state-backed Chinese investments in the Philippines. It was perceived that POGOs were promoted by the government at the expense of other industries.
Ownership and registration
A 2019 Nikkei Asian Review report states that POGO owners are mostly anonymous. At that time, PAGCOR recorded 60 POGOs set up in the Philippines since 2016. Ten were registered in the Philippines, 43 in the British Virgin Islands, and the rest in six other countries, mostly where the identities of owners are kept secret. Only 15 were registered with the BIR, 6 of them pay taxes. 16 were registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In late 2019, the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported that the government shut down nearly 200 illegally-operated POGOs that year. District representative Joey Salceda later claimed there were still at least 100. At the time an estimated 70,000 Chinese workers in Metro Manila-based POGOs were reported in 2020, there were estimated to be at least 200 POGOs having no permit. Corruption in the processing of work permits was raised. Meanwhile, illegal hubs in Central Luzon were reportedly dismantled. About 2,000 foreigners were later deported.
Effect in Philippines–China relations