Philippine gaming regulator Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR) will claim to lower fees levied on iGaming providers to 35% in the third month of this year, CEO Alejandro H. Tengco said. Furthermore, he confirmed this information in an interview with ICE London.

Necessary changes have been made:

In the above interview, Tengco commented on the fee reduction: “As far as online gambling regulations and structures are concerned, we did look at the existing structures and regulations and made the necessary changes,” Asian Gambling Briefing reported. The most important of these is the reduction of the license fee paid to PAGCOR from as high as 50% to 42.5% today. In March we will reduce it further to 35%. We want to encourage more investors and applications from new licensees. I believe we will be able to encourage new players in the market.”

In addition to the above fee reductions, PAGCOR currently also advocates reducing documentary stamp taxes and bonus taxes. In response, Tengco said that since he was first appointed as PAGCOR chairman two years ago (i.e. from 2022 to mid-2023), the regulator has been working hard to refine and review every existing regulation and structure to "make them more “Moving with the times.” In response, Tengco said: “We are overseeing quite a few integrated resorts in Manila. We have made some changes and adjustments to the previous structure as we want to encourage not only existing IRs and licensees but also new players to join. "

Relatedly, he also commented that the Philippines, as the only Southeast Asian region that essentially regulates online gambling licenses and land-based casinos, must take advantage of this to attract additional investment into its online gambling industry.

In a panel discussion before the interview, Tengco confirmed that the operator would be "privatized" in the fourth quarter of 2025.

Additionally, the regulator reported total revenue from its gaming operations last year of Php73.11 billion, or about $1.3 billion, a strong year-over-year growth of 32.8%.

PAGCOR cuts revenue share to prevent illegal gambling:

In other news, it was recently revealed that PAGCOR has decided to reduce its revenue share to 30-32% from the previous 50% in a bid to prevent illegal gambling and create a competitive market. In response, Tengco said PAGCOR will reduce its revenue share.