The 2026 IAG EXPO was a week of celebration and intense discussion, with the common theme being that this is an industry in transition.
There was no exhibition floor at this year’s IAG EXPO, yet there was certainly no shortage of topics, trials and tribulations for Asia’s gaming industry to talk about.
The 2026 edition, held at Newport World Resorts in Manila from 14 to 17 September, brought together leading operators, regulators, suppliers, lawyers and other industry stakeholders for three days of summits, networking and debate, culminating in the invitation-only The Regulators Forum.
With the exhibition component taking a one-year hiatus due to the timing of key ASEAN meetings, the focus shifted squarely onto the issues shaping the industry, with many of those discussions reflecting an Asian gaming sector undergoing significant change.
The inaugural CiG iDEA Summit, hosted by IAG’s sister brand Complete iGaming, provided perhaps the clearest example, with the Philippines’ rapidly evolving online gaming market taking center stage.
PAGCOR Assistant Vice President Jessa Mariz R. Fernandez used her keynote to argue that the recent slowdown in Philippine igaming should be viewed not simply as a decline but as an opportunity to build a more sustainable market, while warning that technology and the black market remain major challenges.
However, the day also produced a frank debate over whether PAGCOR’s regulatory framework has become too complicated for international operators.
During a panel session moderated by Complete iGaming’s CEO, Andrew W Scott, veteran igaming executive Harmen Brenninkmeijer argued that the Philippines’ requirements around partnerships, certifications and platform approvals were deterring major international players.
Fernandez defended the framework, pointing to the Philippines’ willingness to engage with stakeholders and improve its regulation. The exchange captured one of the central questions facing the market: how to maintain strong regulatory controls without making the legal market unnecessarily difficult to enter.
That question carried into the IAG Academy Summit on Tuesday and Wednesday.
PAGCOR Chairman and CEO Alejandro Tengco opened the IAG Academy Summit with a significant update on the regulator’s proposed “decoupling” from Casino Filipino, revealing that the Governance Commission for Government-Owned and Controlled Corporations was expected to endorse the proposal imminently before it is sent to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr for consideration.
Tengco also announced plans for PAGCOR to launch an official app in the fourth quarter that would help players identify legitimate online gaming platforms – a move that reflects the regulator’s increasing focus on channeling players towards licensed operators rather than simply licensing them. He added that PAGCOR’s self-exclusion list had grown from around 1,500 people a year earlier to more than 26,000.
But it wasn’t all about the Philippines.
In a special fireside chat, Crown Resorts CEO David Tsai revealed that Crown had resumed international marketing, after abandoning the activity following the regulatory inquiries into its historical operations. The company is now active in several Asian markets and sees international play as a potentially significant source of future growth.
“We are back and we are now hiring,” Tsai told IAG Vice Chairman and CEO Andrew W Scott, describing Crown’s renewed international push and the enthusiasm he had encountered among former and prospective customers in Asia.
That discussion offered a counterpoint to the regulatory themes dominating the rest of the week. Crown’s experience illustrated just how dramatically the operating environment can change when regulatory expectations, corporate governance and customer relationships are rebuilt.
The final session of the IAG Academy Summit looked further ahead, examining the evolution of the integrated resort beyond the casino floor.
The message from executives including MGM China’s Iwan Dietschi, Crown’s Harold Tsakmaklis and Newport World Resorts’ John Lucas was that Asia’s IRs are increasingly competing on the broader leisure experience – from concerts and entertainment to golf, hospitality and other non-gaming attractions.
Across the four days, the industry repeatedly touched on the underlying theme that gaming is changing, as are the regulatory rules, business models and customer expectations surrounding it.
This was also a week of celebration, with the 2026 IAG Academy IR Awards bringing together a record 355 guests for a spectacular black-tie gala dinner. Among the many notable winners, Galaxy Macau retained the Best Integrated Resort title for a fourth consecutive year, while Ken Jolly of Light & Wonder was named Industry Legend. The awards also included five online gaming categories, reflecting the increasingly blurred boundaries between land-based and digital gaming in Asia, particularly in the Philippines.
The exhibition will return to the IAG EXPO in 2027, with the dates already locked in for 13 to 16 September. By then, many of the questions debated in Manila in 2026 around regulation, online gaming, technology, international expansion and the future of the integrated resort – may have some clearer answers.
