MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte has signed a law providing a tax regime for the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO), Malacañang announced on Thursday.
Signed on Wednesday, Republic Act 11590 imposes a five percent gaming tax on services rendered by offshore gaming licensees and a 25 percent withholding tax on foreigners employed by offshore gaming licensees and service providers.
Sixty percent of the total revenue collected from the gaming tax will be for the implementation of the Universal Healthcare Law.
Twenty percent will be allocated to the Health Facilities Enhancement Program, and the remaining 20 percent will go to the attainment of Sustainable Development Goals, which will be determined by the National Economic and Development Authority.
The Bureau of Internal Revenue is mandated to submit a report to Congress every three months regarding the assessment of third-party auditors and collection performance data of all offshore gaming licensees.
The law will take effect 15 days after its publication in the Official Gazette or in a newspaper of general circulation.
Senate ways and means committee chairperson Pia Cayetano earlier said the government could raise up to P28.7 billion in revenue this year due to the measure.
However, revenues from POGOs declined this year as several players have relocated to other countries in Southeast Asia, Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR) chairperson Andrea Domingo said recently.
Earlier, Domingo told a briefing called by the House of Representatives appropriations committee on the proposed 2022 national budget that only around half of the POGO players are still in the country.
PAGCOR collected only P1.6 billion from the POGO industry in the first half of 2021.(GMA News)
