Okada Manila Casino Resort To Launch Online Gaming Services

Universal Entertainment Corp, which is a gaming conglomerate based out of Japan recently announced that its Okada Manila casino resort has received approval to operate an online gaming website. The approval was given by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) which is the main gaming regulator in the country.

The approval was given to its subsidiary Tiger Resort, Leisure and Entertainment Inc. which is the parent company for Okada Manila earlier this month.

Okada Manila is one of the four main integrated casino resorts in Manila and the first integrated resort to receive approval from PAGCOR to launch online gaming operations.

While Okada Manila has the green light from the Philippine gaming regulator, it still has to meet a number of requirements before officially launching its online gaming website.

Some of those requirements include paying the online gaming license fee, rolling out anti-money laundering protocols, carrying out a beta test of its online casino product and meeting all of the requirements and regulations stipulated by PAGCOR.

The gaming regulator has stressed that Okada Manila must ensure that its online gambling website has provision to be easily audited based on PAGCOR requirements and must show that online gaming taxes can be calculated in a transparent manner.

PIGO or POGO?

While Universal Entertainment confirmed that Okada Manila had received approval to run an online gaming website, there was no indication given as to whether PAGCOR gave them a license to operate as a Philippine Inland Gaming Operator (PIGO) or as a Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO).

The difference between PIGO and POGO is that PIGO license holders are only allowed to offer their online gaming services in the Philippines while POGO license holders are allowed to offer their gaming services to other countries as well.

The casino industry in Manila has taken a hammering in the last 15 months due to the COVID-19 situation and casino operators have lost millions in gross gaming revenues. The top casino operators like Okada Manila are looking at launching online gambling services to bring in a new stream of revenue and help offset some of the land based casino losses.

Universal Entertainment has confirmed that its first step in its online gaming expansion process is to launch online casino games. The next step is to develop and online sports betting platform and launch its betting platform in the near future.