PAGCOR says PhilWeb must change business nature before resuming operations

Gaming technology firm PhilWeb Corp. need to change the nature of its business before it can resume operations, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR) said Thursday.

"The board approved a new scheme two weeks ago, wherein PhilWeb and other online gaming firms need to choose being a gaming provider, station owner, or audit provider. They cannot be both," PAGCOR Corporate Secretary Juanito Sañosa Jr. told GMA News Online.

"It depends on what kind of license they will bid out for with the new scheme or policy," Sañosa said.

In the earlier scheme, PhilWeb and other gaming firms were both the software or gaming provider, owner of gaming sites and auditor at the same time.

"Ang gagawin namin ngayon, separate na ang contrata ... This is to ensure na tama ang taxes at revenues na nire-report kasi kapag ikaw ang provider, owner may conflict of interest kung ikaw din ang mag-audit," Sañosa noted.

The new scheme is not yet in place as the PAGCOR legal team is still refining the approach to make sure its legality is unquestionable.

With this new development, PhilWeb emerged among the top gainers in the stock market on Thursday, its shares closed at P11.18 per share, up 8.75 percent from P10.28 on Wednesday.

PhilWeb was compelled to close more 200 e-Games outlets in August last year after its licensing deal with PAGCOR expired. It failed to secure an extension amid President Rodrigo Duterte's strong stance against online gaming and oligarchs.

The President singled out PhilWeb's former chairman Roberto Ongpin as among the "oligarchs" who must be weeded out of the government.

Ongpin sold his majority stake in PhilWeb to businessman Gregorio Araneta, who has taken over the helm of the company. — VDS, GMA News