PAGCOR Tightens AML Rules for Philippine Casinos

The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) has instructed all licensed casino operators and gaming service providers to strengthen their anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorism financing (CTF) measures.

The directive follows PAGCOR's latest Casino Sector Risk Assessment, which reviewed the period from 2021 to 2024. The assessment classified the country's casino sector as High Risk for money laundering and Medium Risk for terrorism financing.

Operators have been instructed to review their existing risk models, improve customer due diligence, strengthen transaction monitoring and enhance suspicious transaction reporting.

According to PAGCOR, both land-based casinos and electronic gaming operations remain vulnerable because they process large cash transactions and may have limited visibility into customers' sources of funds, particularly within the VIP junket segment. The regulator noted:

The sector remains materially exposed to proceeds from serious predicate crimes, particularly where high-value transactions, cash activity, VIP or junket relationships, electronic gaming, remote channels or weak controls are present.

PAGCOR also ordered operators to share the assessment with directors, executives, compliance officers, auditors and frontline staff. Gaming platform providers must ensure their systems support operators' AML obligations and reduce opportunities to hide transaction trails.

The regulator said it will conduct inspections to assess compliance with the updated requirements. Operators that fail to implement the necessary measures could face administrative sanctions.