The Philippines’ Governance Commission for Government-Owned and Controlled Corporations (GCG) will officially endorse PAGCOR’s proposal to separate its dual roles as a regulator and an operator, according to PAGCOR Chairman and CEO Alejandro Tengco, with a final decision on whether to proceed then down to the Office of the President.
Such endorsement is expected to be issued “very soon,” the Chairman revealed during a Keynote Address at the IAG Academy Summit in Manila on Tuesday morning.
The issue of decoupling, as the regulator calls it, PAGCOR’s regulatory powers from its Casino Filipino operations has been a long-stated goal under Tengco’s stewardship, although the process has appeared to slow over the past year.
However, while the proposal remains under review by the GCG, “we expect that the decision on this matter will be out very soon,” Tengco said.
“Once the review is completed, the GCG will officially endorse the decoupling proposal to the Office of the President. It is at this stage that the Office of the President will evaluate the proposal, and if they find merit on the decoupling initiative, an Executive Order shall be issued.
“While important stages remain, we want to make clear that this decoupling initiative is a major institutional overhaul with legal, financial, operational and human resource implications. For this reason, we must ensure that every step is carefully considered and properly executed.
“What is important, however, is the direction that PACOR is taking. As preparations for decoupling are underway, we are already laying the groundwork for a future in which PACOR can devote its entire focus, expertise and resources to regulation.”
Linking online players to licensed sites
Chairman Tengco also provided a significant update on its efforts to improve the visibility of the Philippines’ licensed igaming market, revealing PAGCOR will in the fourth quarter of this year launch a new PAGCOR App that will provide players with “a convenient and reliable tool to access legitimate platforms.”
This app will, he added, specifically direct players to regulated sites “where safeguards, accountability, measures and responsible gaming standards are firmly in place.”
As reported by Inside Asian Gaming, an order issued by the Philippines’ central bank in mid-2025 requiring e-wallets to delink from gambling platforms has led to concerns that players no longer have the same visibility as prior to the order around which sites are licensed and which are not.
The new PAGCOR App is designed to alleviate this problem, although Tengco was quick to note that “promoting regulated gaming should never be mistaken for promoting irresponsible gaming.”
He also referred to the self-exclusion list PAGCOR launched in 2025 having proved effective, with the number of excluded individuals growing from 1,500 this time last year to more than 26,000 today.
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