Philippines' new president is 'taking down' online gambling

[The Buzz]

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte refused to renew the exclusive license of online operator Philweb Corp after its permit expired on Wednesday.

Duterte declared war on online gambling soon after being sworn in on June 30, saying, "Online gambling must stop. It has sprouted here and there. This is out of control." Philweb's shares lost more than 50 percent to hit lows not seen since 2008, telling shareholders he hoped his action would help get the company's license renewed. Philweb has started winding down operations and is working with Pagcor to retain the jobs of its 5,000 employees.

Here's a link to the story from Reuters: http://www.businessinsider.com/r-tac...-gaming-2016-8

[JackTenSuited]

The same guy who is encouraging his people to kill drug addicts...

[celena]

Why, I'm not surprised!

[sweetbet]

I wonder if he's going to pay the bills of everyone he's putting out of business.

[Magic-Johnson]

And this man is the president of Philippines. ok.

[TheGooner]

Interesting article - thanks.

A couple of quotes :

The Philippines is the base for most Asian international online gambling operators, who hold licenses issued by its Cagayan economic zone. These operators, forbidden to accept bets from locals, have been allowed to keep operating.

So it appears Ok for the Philipinnes to benefit from the tax revenues of licensees that sell offshore ...

Until recently, Filipinos could gamble in licensed online cafes, as well as casinos, but Duterte refused to renew the exclusive license of the operator of more than 300 such cafes, Philweb Corp, after its permit expired on Wednesday.

Just not the ones that operate domestically.

as the Philippines looks to boost tourism, its burgeoning market for integrated casino resorts, touted as a new Asian hotspot after Macau and Singapore, is unlikely to be targeted ...

Japanese billionaire Kazuo Okada is expected to open a $3-billion casino resort in Manila’s Entertainment City by year end.
That will add to the flashy properties of Melco Crown’s City of Dreams Manila and Philippine billionaire Ricky Razon’s Solaire property, controlled by Bloomberry Resorts Corp, which have already opened.

And it ALSO looks like the President is OK with these second group of billionaire oligarchs making hotel and resort money from foreigners ...

It just seems that the billionaire oligarch who made money from the existing domestic license is in trouble ...
I wonder if it will be stopped completely - or handed over to a new group ... a "preferred" billionaire oligarch

I guess we need to follow the money - and see WHICH billionaire oligarchs donated to the electoral campaign eh?

[ocreditor]

Bad news...

[DanHorvat]

Nicknamed "The Punisher" by Time, an alleged vigilante group called the Davao Death Squad has been tied to Duterte by human rights organizations and are responsible for the extrajudicial killings of petty criminals and drug dealers. Over a period of 20 years, he turned Davao City from the "murder capital of the Philippines" to what tourism organisations now describe as "the most peaceful city in southeast Asia," and what numbeo.com ranks as the world's fourth safest place.

If you are doing an illegal activity in my city, if you are a criminal or part of a syndicate that preys on the innocent people of the city, for as long as I am the mayor, you are a legitimate target of assassination.

If he says he'll put an end to online gambling, I believe him.

[Magic-Johnson]

If he says he'll put an end to online gambling, I believe him.

And you think it's the right decision? For me, it isn't.