Philippines

PAGCOR both regulates gambling in the Philippines and operates its own casinos. Online gambling aimed at players in the Philippines runs through a Gaming System Administrator accreditation; land-based venues hold a Gaming Venue Operator licence; and every business supplying either must hold its own B2B accreditation.

New online licences are not currently available. PAGCOR has held a moratorium on new online gaming licences since March 2024. In August 2026 chairman Alejandro Tengco confirmed it would stay, saying the industry should consolidate first so that weaker operators leave before any further licences are considered. The number of licensed online operators has fallen from 74 to 48. For a new entrant the practical routes are acquiring an existing licensee or entering as an accredited B2B provider, which remains open.

• Gaming System Administrator: the accreditation under which online games are offered to Philippine players, granted per game offering.
• Gaming Venue Operator: the land-based licence, issued as a standard licence per game offering or as a unified licence covering a venue.
• B2B accreditation: mandatory for game content providers, aggregators, payment channels, marketing and customer service providers, KYC and membership systems, and independent testing laboratories.

Offshore licensing no longer exists. Executive Order No. 74, signed on 5 November 2024, banned Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators, Internet Gaming Licensees and all offshore gaming operations. Existing holders could not renew and had to cease and wind up by 31 December 2024. All 42 internet gaming licences and 18 authorised service providers were cancelled. Any guidance describing the Philippines as an offshore licensing base is out of date.

PAGCOR publishes a Schedule of Regulatory Fees, most recently dated 2 July 2026. All amounts are in Philippine pesos and are non-refundable.

Gaming System Administrator (online operations)

• Accreditation fee: 5,000,000 per game offering.
• Performance cash deposit: 25,000,000 for one game offering, 50,000,000 for two or more.
• Reprinting or reissuance of a certificate: 20,000.

B2B providers

• Game Content Provider: 250,000 per game offering, valid two years, renewal 250,000. Performance cash deposit 1,000,000 per provider.
• Game Aggregator: 250,000 per type of service, valid two years, renewal 250,000. Performance cash deposit 1,000,000 per type of service.
• Support Service Provider: 500,000, valid two years, renewal 500,000. This covers payment gateways and channels, marketing and promotional services, customer service, KYC and membership systems, and independent game testing laboratories.

Gaming Venue Operator (land-based)

• Standard licence: 300,000 per game offering for three years for traditional bingo, electronic bingo and electronic casino games; 200,000 for two years for sports betting, specialty games, numeric games and online poker. Inspection and processing fees are 50,000 each.
• Unified licence: 1,200,000 for three years, renewal 800,000, with a performance cash deposit of 2,000,000 per venue.
• Performance cash deposits on the standard licence run from 100,000 for specialty games to 1,000,000 for electronic bingo.

A separate Permit to Hold gaming equipment costs 1,000,000 a year. An additional live gaming studio set-up costs 1,000,000 and transferring an existing studio set-up costs 250,000, which is the figure that matters to live-casino suppliers.

Philippine online operators are taxed on gross gaming revenue rather than profit, so the burden does not fall when a month is loss-making.

• PAGCOR share: 30 per cent of gross gaming revenue for e-games, reduced from a higher rate in January 2025 to draw players into the legal market. Integrated resorts pay 25 per cent.
• Audit fee: 10 per cent of the PAGCOR share, which works out at roughly 3 per cent of gross gaming revenue.
• Franchise tax: 5 per cent of gross gaming revenue, levied in lieu of corporate income tax and value added tax.

Taken together the government takes roughly 35 to 38 per cent of gross gaming revenue before local taxes, withholding obligations and social contributions.

Minimum guaranteed fee. Introduced by a PAGCOR memorandum dated 15 December 2025 and amended on 21 May 2026, the minimum guaranteed fee sets a revenue benchmark and a floor payment. An operator pays the floor or the percentage share, whichever is higher.

• From 1 April 2026: e-casino operators benchmarked at PHP 30 million monthly gross gaming revenue with a PHP 9 million floor; other operators at PHP 15 million with a PHP 3 million floor.
• From 1 October 2026: the benchmarks rise to PHP 35 million and PHP 20 million, and the floors to PHP 10.5 million and PHP 4 million.

This mechanism is the main driver of the consolidation PAGCOR has described, because it removes the value of holding an under-used licence.

Accreditation is conditional on a review of the applicant and its systems, and the conditions continue for the life of the licence.

• Probity check on the applicant, its owners and its key people.
• Ocular inspection of the applicant facility by PAGCOR.
• Live testing of the electronic gaming system and the online gaming platform before operations begin.
• Performance cash deposit held against penalties and unmet financial obligations. Where PAGCOR deducts from the deposit, the operator must restore it to its original level within fifteen calendar days.
• Use of accredited providers only. A licensed casino, e-games operator or Gaming System Administrator may only engage B2B providers that themselves hold PAGCOR accreditation, which makes the supply chain a compliance question rather than a commercial one.

Undertakings on timely tax compliance form part of the application, alongside registration with the Bureau of Internal Revenue and a tax identification number.

Applicants are assessed on corporate substance as well as on the product, and the documentary requirements are set at group level rather than at the level of the applying entity alone.

• Audited financial statements for the applicant.
• Proof of capitalisation and solvency, with the minimum capital varying by accreditation category.
• Bank certifications supporting the declared financial position.
• A business plan with three to five year projections.
• Bureau of Internal Revenue registration and a tax identification number, with undertakings on timely tax compliance.

The performance cash deposit must be posted before operations commence. For land-based venues PAGCOR sets its own timing rule: posting must happen before the gaming site opens and in any event no later than six months after the notice of approval.

• March 2024 — PAGCOR imposes a moratorium on new online gaming licences, still in force.
• 5 November 2024 — Executive Order No. 74 bans offshore gaming; all operations cease by 31 December 2024.
• January 2025 — PAGCOR cuts the e-games share of gross gaming revenue to 30 per cent.
• 2 October 2025 — Regulatory Framework for the Accreditation of Gaming Affiliates and Support Service Providers (Revision 1) takes effect.
• 15 December 2025 — Minimum guaranteed fee introduced by memorandum, amended on 21 May 2026.
• 1 April 2026 — First minimum guaranteed fee tranche applies.
• 2 July 2026 — Current Schedule of Regulatory Fees published.
• 30 September 2026 — Extended deadline for fresh B2B accreditation, moved from 31 July.
• 1 October 2026 — Second minimum guaranteed fee tranche raises the floors to PHP 10.5 million and PHP 4 million a month.