The group of legal Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGO) said it will review the financial documents submitted by its members to government tax and gaming regulators.

Paul Bongco, Association of Service Providers and POGOs (ASPAP) spokesperson said the group will determine the compliance of their members with the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor).

ASPAP issued the statement following Senator Win Gatchalian’s sweeping claim that even legitimate POGOs are remiss in paying correct taxes.

“Our group only represents 16 POGOs – less than half of those registered with Pagcor. We’re coordinating with our member firms to check compliance as part of our self-policing initiatives,” Bongco said in a statement.

On Tuesday, Gatchalian cited the discrepancies between gross gaming revenues submitted by licensed-POGOs to the BIR and Pagcor.

Citing his own research, Gatchalian—chairman of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means—estimated that the discrepancy resulted in 1.9 billion foregone revenues from January to August 2022.

Indicative gross gaming revenue at end-August, based on five percent gaming tax payments made to the BIR by POGO operators, totaled P28.36 billion, according to the senator.

However, the two percent regulatory fee payments to Pagcor show indicative gross gaming revenue for the same period at P66.67 billion, Gatchalian pointed out.

He also flagged Pagcor's account receivables from POGOs over the same period estimated at P2.3 billion.

“Research shows that we are not realizing the full benefits of allowing POGO operations in the country. It’s high time we consider developing other industries that are sustainable, high-yielding, and long-term businesses,” Gatchalian said.

Last Oct. 11, Gatchalian said POGOs pump in a total of P34.68 billion directly and indirectly to the Philippine economy.

While the amount only accounts for one percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), Gatchalian believes that it is still a “significant” support to the local economy.

The figure is more than half of the P53-billion POGO economic contributions estimated by the National Economic and Development Authority in the pandemic-transition year of 2022, and a third of the P104.5 billion in total contributions during the POGO peak year of 2019.

Gatchalian said the top three POGO contributions are P10.9 billion in real estate taxes, P7.4 billion in taxes on retail stores selling household items, communications devices and other goods, and P7.2 billion representing the sector’s five percent franchise tax.

The rest are: P3.07 billion corresponding to the 25 percent withholding tax on foreign nationals, P1.78 billion in value-added tax, P1.683 billion in tax on food service activities, and P1.58 billion in remittances to national government.

In addition, the industry paid P1.41 billion in foregone tax on utilities, P232 million in corporate income tax, and P4.312 million in income tax.