Philippines shutters its online gambling industry amid tax evasion, human trafficking concerns | Going “scorched-earth” on the entire industry to curb the illegal businesses
https://www.techspot.com/news/103965-philippines-shutters-online-gambling-industry-amid-tax-evasion.html
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From the article: The Philippines is dismantling its controversial offshore gaming industry catering to overseas gamblers. President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. directed regulators this week to shut down all “POGO” websites and operations by year’s end. The crackdown follows mounting concerns that these online casinos have become fronts for criminal rackets such as human trafficking, fraud, and potential Chinese espionage.
POGOs, short for Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators, are companies licensed by the government to run online gambling sites for overseas players, especially in mainland China where such activities are illegal. While the POGO business has generated billions in tax revenue, it’s also been a hotbed of illicit activity.
“Disguising as legitimate entities, their operations have ventured into illicit areas furthest from gaming such as financial scamming, money laundering, prostitution, human trafficking, kidnapping, brutal torture, even murder,” Marcos said during his annual State of the Nation address this week. He wasn’t exaggerating either.
An ongoing Senate investigation has uncovered some very questionable activities. It centers on a mayor named Alice Guo who allegedly faked being a Filipino citizen to run an illegal POGO empire, complete with human detention cells and over 800 victims rescued from her scam compounds. Investigators claim Guo’s real name is Guo Huaping, and she’s a Chinese national.
> their operations have ventured into illicit areas furthest from gaming such as financial scamming, money laundering, prostitution, human trafficking, kidnapping, brutal torture, even murder
Okay, from my perspective, that sounds like total bullshit. I don’t know all the facts, however the notion of ONLINE gambling, as opposed to live gambling, having this kind of effect just sounds like total bullshit that I cannot take seriously. And I highly suspect that the Adelson family has everything to do with this (who is heavily invested in casino’s around the world, most notably in Singapore and Macau), and/or possibly the CCP. Adelson did this exact same bullshit in the US with Full Tilt and Poker Stars, sending literally billions of dollars to politicians in order to shut down the online market.