“We decide to benefit the interest of my country,” he said. Manila stopped taking applications for new POGO licences in August 2019, citing concerns about national security, but President Rodrigo Duterte said the next month that he would not ban the industry.
In the past year, Beijing has ratcheted up pressure on Manila to shut down the industry, following its success in convincing Cambodia to move toward doing the same last year. But at the same time, they’ve pushed up rents and created new challenges for the Philippine National Police. The online casinos generate tax revenue and desperately needed jobs in Manila’s crowded downtown area. They have been both a boon and a curse for the country.
