The government announced on Apr. 30 that the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases has allowed Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs) to resume operations under strict protocols.

Although only 30 percent of the manpower will be allowed to report to work, all Filipino employees should still get their full pay. For employees who will be deployed, they should first undergo mandatory testing at a Food and Drugs Administration-registered testing facility. If tested negative, they should be provided shuttle services to and from work.

POGOs are also required to follow standard quarantine protocols such as temperature checks, physical distancing, wearing of masks and disinfection. Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) said that gaming operators will face punitive action if they fail to meet these requirements.

How do POGOs work?

POGOs are online gambling firms which cater to foreign customers only. They indulge potential patrons from countries where gambling is illegal—specifically China. Filipinos are in no way allowed to access any POGO platform.

POGOs were coincidentally established in the country in 2016 when the Chinese government banned casino operations in mainland China. And despite being registered under the Philippines, only 25 percent of its workforce are Filipinos while the remaining 75 percent are Chinese.

These online gambling firms were reported to make around P20 billion worth of revenue from 2017 to 2019. So the resumption of POGOs, as claimed by President Rodrigo Duterte, can help fund the current health emergency the country is facing.

“POGOs cannot be considered as BPO”

According to Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque, POGOs can operate amid the pandemic as they are considered a part of the business processing outsourcing (BPO) industry.

But there are only 11 sectors under the Philippine BPO industry: contact center, back office, data transcription, animation, software development, engineering development, digital content, knowledge processing outsourcing, game development, information technology outsourcing and engineering services outsourcing.

POGOs don’t fall under any of the mentioned sectors. Online gambling firms are generally defined as entities that offer and participate in offshore gaming services by providing games to players, taking bets and paying the winning players.

The Information Technology and Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP) emphasized this claim in a statement on Saturday, May 2. They listed key differences between POGOs and BPOs.

“While BPOs and POGOs share one extraneous similarity, which is their offshoring nature, POGOs primarily do so because they are allegedly unable to practice their betting or gambling functions in their respective shores,” said IBPAP.

BPOs have “directly benefited millions of Filipinos by providing them with better employment opportunities throughout the years. In the case of POGOs, majority of their staffing comes from foreign labor brought into the country to support their operations,” IBPAP added.

Besides this, POGOs and BPO firms are not registered under the same association. POGOs are under PAGCOR while all BPO firms are under the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) or the Board of Investments (BOI). The gambling firms were also not part of the Annual IT-BPM Headcount and Revenue report in 2019.

Header photo courtesy Michał Parzuchowski on Unsplash

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