PHILIPPINES ONLINE GAMBLING LICENSING ROW

15 June 2007

Do the owners of the Zamboanga special economic zone have the right to issue online gambling licences?

It looks as if an increasingly bitter war of words, and possibly litigation could be taking place in the Philippines, where the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) is at odds with the Zamboanga City Special Economic Zone (ZSEZ) and Freeport Authority over its claimed right to issue online gambling licenses.

The city’s special economic zone has already issued three licenses to gambling operators despite an order from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) for these firms to cease operations for lack of a Pagcor license to operate.

Christopher Arnuco, presidential assistant on trade and vice chair of the Zamboanga City Special Economic Zone (ZSEZ) and Freeport Authority, said gambling operations inside the ecozone were covered by a legal opinion fromthe Philippines Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez.

ZSEZ authorities have already issued a license to Philippine E-gaming Jurisdiction Inc. (PeJI), which maintains an office at the zone’s Technical Enterprise Building B in Barangay San Ramon here, to control e-Gaming and other related activities “conducted within and from the Zamboanga Special Economic Zone (ZSEZ) pursuant to Republic Act No. 7903.”

Under the license, PeJI was empowered to receive and process all applications for and award e-Gaming licenses to business operators.

But the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) has ordered ZSEZ authorities to stop PeJI’s operation as it is illegal and contrary to their sole mandate to issue such licenses. And the directive had been ignored.

Arnuco insists “...we are authorized under the law to operate, even casino for that matter. What we did was to ask Secretary Gonzalez … and he issued a legal opinion saying that yes we are allowed to do so on May 8, 2007 in reply to an earlier letter by ZSEZ chair Georgina Yu."

Arnuco said Gonzalez told them that “contrary to Pagcor’s assertion, the Zamboanga Ecozone Authority possessed power to issue licenses to would-be locators/investors intending to operate tourism-related activities, including games, amusements and recreational sport facilities, including online/Internet gambling casinos among others, within the Zambo ecozone.

“After all, gambling is defined as the act or practice of betting, or the act of playing a game and consciously risking money or other stakes on its outcome, which to us, is squarely within the phrase of games and amusements and recreational and sports,” Arnuco quoted Gonzalez as saying.

Despite Arnuco's claims, sources within Pagcor were confident this week that Secretary Gonzales would reverse his opinion after Pagcor lawyers pointed out that the word 'gaming' in the ZSEZ authority to which Gonzalez had agreed, did not cover gambling.

Arnuco stressed that the fear of some people that e-Gaming would corrupt the morals of the people of the city was groundless.

“No locals are allowed to play. It [the gambling websites] could not be accessed locally. The Philippine network is blocked from accessing this e-Gaming facility, but the rest of the world, almost all countries abroad can open the said site,” Arnuco said.

Online Casino News courtesy of InfoPowa