The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation’s relatively new POGO licensing (Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators) system is hammering neighbouring licensing jurisdiction First Cagayan Leisure and Resort Corp., reducing its list of licensees by almost fifty percent, according to a report from Leisure and Resorts World Corp. (LRWC) .
The report notes that since the launch of the POGO licenses there has been a drop in Cagayan online gambling licensees – from 138 to between 70 and 80.
Speaking to the publication Philstar, LRWC chief operating officer Francis Hernando said: “We lost about 60. Those 60 transferred to POGO.”
In response, LRWC is planning to develop its 10-hectare Cagayan estate to better attract new online gambling operators, Hernando revealed.
“This situation pushed us to develop Cagayan. Now, we have to think township. We have to have office buildings for the BPOs. We’re re-launching this thing,” he said, adding that an upgraded airport was also being planned, involving an investment of almost a hundred million US dollars.