Philippines May Raise Casino Fee Rates to Discourage Gambling
PAGCOR (The Philippines Amusement & Gaming Corporation), according to a research arm run by the government, should make the current qualifying fee for casinos mandatory and also raise it in line with the inflation.
The research arm believes that this will help in curbing gambling among low-income groups and generate useful revenue.
The study, called “Proposed Imposition of Casino Entrance Fee” and published by the NTRC (National Tax Research Center), suggests that the government make the most of the country’s thriving gaming industry to generate revenue that can be used for development programs.
Factoring in the industry’s high-earning potential, the study aimed to determine the feasibility of introducing an entrance fee for gamblers to meet the greater need of financing government projects and also, to regulate participation in gambling.
It is believed that there are already two bills (filed in the House of Representatives) in the 17th Congress that have proposed the introduction of an entrance fee for casino patrons in the Philippines.
One of the highlights of the bills, according to the study, is that PAGCOR is allowed to collect a qualifying fee, under Executive Order 48, from casino visitors throughout the country.
The order mentions the fee as being P100 per person, as established by the DOF or Department of Finance. Albeit the order, the fee was subject to being only an optional requirement. In fact, there is no mention of a qualifying fee in Regulation 15 of the Casino Regulatory Manual.
No need to mandate collection
Fee collection has drastically reduced since 2005, with the figure going from P20.2 million to just P10.6 million in the following period. In 2016, it peaked at just P14 million.
However, the report states that there will be no need for a bill to make fee collection a mandatory requirement since PAGCOR has already been doing it. But, now, the study suggests, the fee collection could simply be applied to all casinos in the country. More revenue; lower gambling-related social impact With 5.56 million local players making their way into casinos between 2014 and 2016, calculations indicate that the mandatory fee of P100 could generate around P556 million. However, NRTC has suggested raising the rate to fall in line with the inflation, especially since the fee hasn’t changed since 1993.
The suggestion is to bring it close to Quezon City’s proposed rate of P1,500, which will greatly reduce the number of low-income earners from taking part. Even if 80% of local players avoided participating due to the high qualifying fee, casinos would still generate P1.67 billion.
