ONLINE GAMING companies said the government needs to focus on dismantling illegal gambling operators before restricting licensed platforms.
“The first thing that we have to address is the illegals,” PlaySafe Alliance of the Philippines spokesman and former legislator Michael T. Defensor said on the Money Talks with Cathy Yang program on Tuesday.
Even with the proposed restrictions on the industry, the illegal segment of the industry can still say, “kids can play,” he added.
The PlaySafe Alliance of the Philippines consists of 19 companies including DigiPlus Interactive Corp., and World Platinum Technologies, Inc.
“PAGCOR (the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.) would say it’s 60% illegal, 40% legal. For me, it’s worse than that, because I’ve seen some data; 68% are actually illegal,” he said.
Last week, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) ordered all e-wallets, banks, and other supervised institutions to remove in-app gambling assets, including links directing users to gaming or gambling websites.
The central bank said the suspension will remain in place until its guidelines for online gambling payment services are finalized.
PAGCOR and the BSP faced intense questioning at a Senate hearing on Aug. 14 amid a burgeoning campaign to ban the entire industry. The government has taken the position that the alleged abuses of the industry, which it taxes, can be managed by regulation.
After the delinking order, gross gaming revenue declined, and platforms have since installed measures to protection against gambling addiction.
“You have to understand, if you are in the online wallet, like Paymaya or GCash, you are actually legal. And in those payment platform wallets, there’s already a KYC (Know Your Customer) mechanism,” he said.
Mr. Defensor said children cannot access such platforms and be exposed to gambling.
“The legal online gaming platforms have their own KYC that is regulated and monitored by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the online payment platforms themselves, and also by PAGCOR,” he said.
He proposed adopting the self-regulation measures in the UK, which is based on algorithms.
Regulatory uncertainty continues to loom over the industry, which has pressured gaming stocks, China Bank Securities Corp. Director Rastine Mackie D. Mercado said.
“Over the past month or two, you’ve seen weakness in gaming stocks, and that’s mainly driven by regulatory uncertainty,” he said.
He also noted that bricks-and-mortar companies like Bloomberry have turned less volatile compared to pure online plays.
“Moving forward, a large part of the uncertainty has been priced in. There is some scope for some oversold rallies… but overall, we see that investors will be very closely monitoring how regulations is going to pan out,” he said. — Aubrey Rose A. Inosante