PAGCOR Orders Philippine Casinos to Strengthen AML Defenses After High-Risk Review

Philippine casinos are under fresh pressure to tighten their anti-money laundering controls after a regulatory review found the sector remains highly exposed to financial crime.

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The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) has instructed licensed casinos and their service providers to strengthen anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorism financing (CTF) measures following an assessment covering the 2021-2024 period. The review classified money laundering risk as high and terrorism financing risk as medium-high.

The order goes beyond updating compliance manuals. PAGCOR signaled that future inspections will focus on whether operators have turned those risk assessments into day-to-day practices capable of identifying suspicious activity.

Cash, VIP Gaming and Cross-Border Transfers Draw Attention

The regulator’s review identified several areas that continue to make casinos vulnerable to misuse. Large cash transactions remain a major concern, alongside junket operations, VIP gaming, electronic gambling, remote gaming channels and cross-border movement of funds.

Although PAGCOR found no confirmed terrorism financing cases involving regulated casinos during the review period, it concluded that the threat still warrants dedicated attention. Operators have been instructed to assess terrorism financing independently rather than treating it as part of broader money laundering controls.

That distinction reflects a more targeted supervisory approach, with regulators expecting casinos to evaluate different risks separately instead of relying on a single compliance framework.

Compliance Checks Move Beyond Customer Onboarding

The updated expectations require operators to revisit their own risk assessments and determine whether existing controls remain appropriate.

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PAGCOR wants casinos to strengthen customer due diligence by verifying beneficial ownership, reviewing the source of funds and source of wealth, screening against sanctions lists and identifying politically exposed persons.

Monitoring is also expected to become more proactive after customers enter the casino. The regulator highlighted rapid chip redemptions, large buy-ins followed by minimal play and transactions moving across multiple gaming channels as patterns that deserve closer attention. Operators are also expected to improve customer-level data collection so investigators can reconstruct transaction histories when suspicious activity emerges.

High-Value Players Face Greater Scrutiny

VIP customers and junket-related business are expected to receive increased regulatory attention.

Junkets, which recruit and manage high-stakes gamblers, have long presented oversight challenges because they can obscure the origin and movement of player funds. PAGCOR indicated these relationships will remain a key focus during supervisory reviews.

Inspectors will also examine how casinos monitor cash and chip activity, oversee electronic gaming operations and maintain reporting standards. Operators with greater exposure to higher-risk business segments are likely to face closer examination, with PAGCOR warning that failure to account for the findings of its sector-wide risk assessment could influence future enforcement decisions.

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Source: igamingexpress.com