Philippines gaming regulator PAGCOR has published a defense of its Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO) scheme following recent calls by some lawmakers to ban the industry.

In a detailed newsletter titled “The truth about POGO: A primer”, PAGCOR refutes allegations by opponents, as well as a recent report by the AMLC, linking online gaming service providers and their operators to prostitution, crime, money laundering and Chinese spy networks.

It also outlines the economic benefits of POGO – established in 2016 in response to the proliferation of illegal online gaming operators in the nation’s economic zones – and cites a total of Php20.83 billion (US$412 million) in revenues collected from POGOs since then, including Php1.81 billion already this year.

“These revenues are over and above the other fees and taxes imposed by other agencies such as the Bureau of Internal Revenue for their corporate taxes and the employees’ income tax, the Bureau of Immigration for their visa fees, the Local Government Units for their local taxes and fees imposed by other agencies,” PAGCOR said.

In response to claims of criminality within the POGO industry, the regulator said it is working closely with the Chinese embassy to crackdown on Chinese nationals with criminal records and said it has already deported 2,000 Chinese nationals, representing 3% of those working for POGOs, back to China since 15 January 2020.

PAGCOR added that “POGO is NOT prostitution,” pointing instead to the proliferation of Filipino prostitution as a far greater concern than allegations of Chinese sex workers, and that “POGO is NOT a spy network”, citing no evidence supporting accusations up to 3,000 members of China’s People’s Liberation Army are in the Philippines.

The newsletter, published on PAGCOR’s website on Tuesday, comes after the regulator granted the partial resumption of POGO operations over the weekend following the recent shutdown due to COVID-19.