{"id":121043,"date":"2019-11-28T13:00:33","date_gmt":"2019-11-28T21:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=121043"},"modified":"2019-11-29T10:32:09","modified_gmt":"2019-11-29T18:32:09","slug":"philippines-cracks-down-on-largest-pogo-provider-over-tax-evasion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/philippines-cracks-down-on-largest-pogo-provider-over-tax-evasion\/","title":{"rendered":"Philippines Cracks Down on Largest Online Gaming Services Provider for Tax Evasion"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Philippines\u2019 interagency \u201cPOGO task force\u201d on Wednesday shut down 11 unregistered branches of the country\u2019s biggest online gaming services provider, New Oriental Club88 Corp.\u00a0 Authorities accused the company of tax evasion.<\/p>\n

\"Philippine
President Rodrigo Duterte has brushed off China\u2019s complaints about POGOs because \u201cthey are good for the economy.\u201d But the industry is growing faster than his people can tax it. (Image: AFP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

According to the Bureau of Internal Revenue<\/a> (BIR), New Oriental had registered only its headquarters in Makati City with tax authorities.<\/p>\n

The company has hired 18,000 mostly Chinese employees since it began operating last year, around 6,700 of whom were working in the 11 shuttered branches in Paranaque, BIR said.<\/p>\n

The company is described as a \u201ccustomer relations service provider and live studio streaming provider\u201d for the Philippines’ online gaming industry.<\/p>\n

POGOs Jumping<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Philippine offshore gaming operator (POGO) sector has been booming since its inception in 2016, mainly at China\u2019s expense.<\/p>\n

Relations between the two countries have improved since the accession to power of strong-arm president Rodrigo Duterte. But Duterte has brushed off calls from China<\/a> to shut down the POGO industry that targets its citizens.<\/p>\n

Duterte\u2019s administration collected $140 million from the POGOs in annual licensing fees alone last year.<\/p>\n

To Beijing\u2019s consternation, thousands of Chinese have poured into the Philippines to work in the POGO industry, aided by Duterte\u2019s relaxed visa requirements for Chinese nationals.<\/p>\n

But the joke could be on Duterte.<\/p>\n

\n

The industry is growing faster than authorities can tax it, and the government has no idea how many POGO companies there are in the country or how many people they employ.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Gambling regulator PAGCOR says there are 60 licensed POGOs in the Philippines. But as reported by The South China Morning Post<\/em>, Congressman Joey Salcedo claimed over the weekend that only 10 of the licensed 60 actually paid taxes, and there were at least 100 more operating illegally.<\/p>\n

BIR estimates the number of foreign POGO employees at just over 100,000, although some politicians have claimed there are 400,000 to 800,000.<\/p>\n

\u2018Tax-Dodging Practices\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The POGOs are forbidden to offer gaming to Filipinos and nominally to any country where online gambling is illegal, such as China. But Philippine authorities are prepared to turn a blind eye to that minor detail.<\/p>\n

Less so, widespread tax evasion.<\/p>\n

\u201cBasically, we\u2019re going hard against people who are evading taxes,\u201d Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said in a statement Wednesday. \u201cIt is unfair to Filipino taxpayers dutifully paying their taxes for these POGOs to continue with their tax-dodging practices.\u201d<\/p>\n

In October, Beijing called on the Philippines to \u201cpunish\u201d POGO companies, most of which are owned by Chinese nationals or financially backed by Chinese money.<\/p>\n

\u201cA huge\u00a0amount\u00a0of Chinese funds\u00a0have\u00a0illegally\u00a0flown out of China and\u00a0into the Philippines, involving crimes such as cross-border money laundering through underground banking,\u00a0which undermines\u00a0China\u2019s financial supervision and financial security,\u201d said the Chinese Embassy in Manila.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cThe fact that a large number of Chinese citizens are lured into illegal gambling has resulted in an increase in crime and social problems in China,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Philippines\u2019 interagency \u201cPOGO task force\u201d on Wednesday shut down 11 unregistered branches of the country\u2019s biggest online gaming services provider, New Oriental Club88 Corp.\u00a0 Authorities accused the company of tax evasion. According to the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), New Oriental had registered only its headquarters in Makati City with tax authorities. The company […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":121046,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[69069,19],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nPhilippines Cracks Down on Largest POGO Provider for Tax Evasion<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Philippine\u2019s biggest POGO services provider New Oriental Club88 Corp accused of tax evasion, as 11 branches shut down in Paranaque.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/philippines-cracks-down-on-largest-pogo-provider-over-tax-evasion\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Philippines Cracks Down on Largest POGO Provider for Tax Evasion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Philippine\u2019s biggest POGO services provider New Oriental Club88 Corp accused of tax evasion, as 11 branches shut down in Paranaque.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/philippines-cracks-down-on-largest-pogo-provider-over-tax-evasion\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-11-28T21:00:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-11-29T18:32:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/duterte.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/philippines-cracks-down-on-largest-pogo-provider-over-tax-evasion\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/philippines-cracks-down-on-largest-pogo-provider-over-tax-evasion\/\",\"name\":\"Philippines Cracks Down on Largest POGO Provider for Tax Evasion\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/philippines-cracks-down-on-largest-pogo-provider-over-tax-evasion\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/philippines-cracks-down-on-largest-pogo-provider-over-tax-evasion\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/duterte.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-11-28T21:00:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-11-29T18:32:09+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Philippine\u2019s biggest POGO services provider New Oriental Club88 Corp accused of tax evasion, as 11 branches shut down in Paranaque.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/philippines-cracks-down-on-largest-pogo-provider-over-tax-evasion\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/philippines-cracks-down-on-largest-pogo-provider-over-tax-evasion\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/philippines-cracks-down-on-largest-pogo-provider-over-tax-evasion\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/duterte.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/duterte.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":800,\"caption\":\"President Rodrigo Duterte has brushed off China\u2019s complaints about POGO\u2019s because \u201cthey are good for the economy\u201d but the industry is growing faster than authorities can tax it. 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