Former coach now Quezon City Rep. Franz Pumaren. FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — An athlete-turned-lawmaker has called on appropriate government agencies, including the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor), to review sports betting operations amid fears that game-fixing is happening.
According to Quezon City 3rd District Rep. Franz Pumaren, there should be a review being done, given that there was an instance where two teams battling in a Philippine Basketball Association’s Developmental League game appeared to refuse to win.
That same game, Pumaren claimed, was featured in one of the 15 Pagcor service providers for both onsite and online sports betting.
“I think we will have to take a deeper look at it. As a sportsman, I know what is really happening, it is becoming a tool not only for really friendly sports betting…nagkakaroon po ng konting problema sa ganyan (we are encountering problems there). We will have to review it,” Pumaren said during the House Committee on appropriations’ hearing of Pagcor’s contribution to national revenues.
“The gaming regulator should coordinate with the PBA to review at least the said D-League game,” he added.
Currently, Pagcor has listed 15 companies allowed to operate sports betting:
- PhilWeb Corp.
- Orient Capital Ventures
- Jade Entertainment and Gaming Technologies
- Total Gamezone Xtreme
- Glowlight Corporation
- Breddas Inc.
- Infinitech Digital Gaming Corp.
- Kingwin Ventures
- Trojans Well Entertainment Corp.
- Las Casas Gaming
- Sandbox Entertainment
- Silver Goose 8 International
- GoTech Entertainment
- One Visayas Gaming Corp.
Pagcor says licenses given to the companies only cover local sporting events, such as basketball, and does not offer betting options for international sporting events.
According to Pagcor industry statistics, gross gaming revenue — total bets minus payouts — of licensed electronic games including and sports betting total is at P22.43 billion in the first half of the 2023.
This is higher than the P13 billion registered in the same period in 2022.
The House panel heard Pagcor’s financial plans for 2024, and their revenue report for 2023. During the deliberations, lawmakers asked Pagcor about other matters — such as the receivables from Philippine offshore gaming operators (Pogo) — which the corporation said can no longer be collected as the Pogo left during the pandemic.
Pagcor was also asked about the P5.8 billion contract for gaming auditing that was given to a fraudulent company, which its officials said has been declared null and void. With reports from Ivana Romero, INQUIRER.net trainee
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