State-run Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.’s (Pagcor) plan to separate its dual roles as a gaming watchdog and player has become clearer and is now taking shape following its chief’s reiteration of the move.

“Pagcor’s dual role has served its purpose in the past, but as the industry matured, it became clear that—in layman’s terms—a referee cannot also be a player on the same field,” Pagcor Chairman and CEO Alejandro H. Tengco said at the Inside Asian Gaming (IAG) Summit 2025.

Pagcor must secure approval from the Governance Commission for Government-Owned and Controlled Corporations (GCG), which is currently reviewing the necessary documents, before it can proceed with the decoupling.

According to Pagcor, the decoupling plan also requires legal scrutiny since Pagcor operates under Presidential Decree 1869 and Republic Act 9487.

“Filipino employees will be protected through redeployment, absorption by privatized operators, or the grant of competitive retirement benefits once the privatization of Pagcor’s gaming operations takes place,” Tengco said.

This announcement comes despite the solid growth in the industry’s gross gaming revenues (GGR) in the last two years.

Tengco reported that the industry GGR from 2022 to 2024 climbed from around ₱213.9 billion to around ₱370.7 billion, nearly doubling.

For the first semester of 2025 alone, GGR has already reached around ₱216.7 billion, keeping the sector on track to achieve its nearly ₱400 billion full-year target for 2025.

Meanwhile, Pagcor’s own revenues from January to June reached around ₱57 billion. Tengco said these numbers “affirm the Philippines’ place as one of the fastest-growing and most important gaming markets in Asia.”

He stressed, however, that the agency has implemented reforms to ensure the gaming industry’s “sustainable and responsible” expansion.

Tengco noted that alongside the massive contribution of electronic gaming’s (e-gaming) “rapid” growth to industry expansion is the establishment of a more evolved oversight framework to ensure integrity and player protection.

“The unprecedented and exponential growth of online gaming truly comes with success and revenues, but for us, our responsibility is to ensure that this sector’s growth comes not just with profit but with accountability, integrity, and player protection,” Tengco said.

According to Pagcor, the state firm’s recent measures include the launch of the Pagcor Guarantee Page to verify licensed platforms, responsible gaming tools such as self-exclusion and betting limits, and a 24/7 helpline established with the Seagulls Flock Foundation.

Pagcor has also banned the use of credit cards and cryptocurrencies for betting, tightened rules on gambling advertisements, and strengthened coordination with law enforcement and cybercrime agencies to combat illegal online gambling.

Earlier this year, the Philippines was removed from global money laundering watchlists, marking its exit from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list. Tengco said this was “a milestone that strengthened investor confidence and validated compliance efforts against money laundering and financial crimes.”