Philippines shutters its online gambling industry amid tax evasion, human trafficking concerns

POGOs, short for Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators, are companies licensed by the government to run online gambling sites for overseas players, especially in mainland China where such activities are illegal. While the POGO business has generated billions in tax revenue, it's also been a hotbed of illicit activity. It centers on a mayor named Alice Guo who allegedly faked being a Filipino citizen to run an illegal POGO empire, complete with human detention cells and over 800 victims rescued from her scam compounds. Bongbong Marcos July 22, 2024 The POGOs have been a political hot potato for years, creating all sorts of economic and regulatory headaches alongside the sleaze factor. At their peak a few years ago, POGOs directly employed well over 300,000 Chinese nationals in the Philippines alone. The clampdown in recent years has seen hundreds of POGO licenses revoked and arrests of many operators for tax evasion and hiring illegal foreign workers. Others worry the shadier POGO elements will simply go fully underground, creating new illegal operators that are even harder to track and regulate.