Signal Spotlight · September 2026 in review
What September settled
PAGCOR is using the Minimum Guaranteed Fee to exit underperformers. Chairman Alejandro Tengco confirmed that failing to remit the fee, ₱9 million a month for e-casino operators regardless of revenue, is the door PAGCOR is using to move weak licensees out. He also lowered expectations for the year: revenue could top ₱350 billion, but ₱400 billion would be challenging, against an original ₱397 billion target. Q2 gross gaming revenue had already fallen more than a fifth, to ₱88.1 billion.
Oversight now reaches past operators. PAGCOR’s Jessa Mariz Fernandez said regulation must cover participants beyond operators that directly serve players, and PAGCOR cited stronger rules for B2B providers, GSA transition guidelines, cashback rules, and an expanded penalties framework. Public comments on parts of this are open through October 5, and the B2B accreditation deadline for suppliers is September 30.
The payment layer is being enforced. BSP shut more than 8,000 merchant accounts, including bakeries and beauty salons, that were fronting for unlicensed casinos. Its draft circular would give payment providers six months after it takes effect to review layered merchant arrangements and another six to fix them, with repeated violations putting a provider’s licence at risk.
Smart tables have a date. Tengco said integrated resorts must begin converting by January 1, 2027, starting with the four Entertainment City resorts. It’s a start date, not a completion date, and nothing has been set for casinos outside Entertainment City.
New Zealand’s online casino market has a calendar. The licence auction was scheduled for September 29, applications are due October 23, and providers that haven’t applied must stop on December 1.
The online gaming law has a clock. Tengco said he wants a comprehensive online gaming law enacted before his term ends. iGaming Business reports that term ends on June 30, 2028, and that the law is one of his three remaining priorities, so this is a restated goal, not a new one.
What September left open
The regulator and operator split. Tengco has said a decision is coming “very soon” at conferences since at least September 2025, and his own August target passed. No recommendation to the Office of the President has been reported.
Whether a workaround cures a lost accreditation. Century Entertainment says routing through another PAGCOR-accredited provider keeps it compliant after PAGCOR cancelled its partner’s GSA accreditation in April. PAGCOR hasn’t ruled on that structure.
Who really controls Stake. A leak of more than 84,000 documents from the Curaçao Gaming Authority showed Stake’s operating company was licensed while the regulator’s own file said its true beneficial ownership was unclear. The records don’t show whether the five-week condition to explain it was met.
What happens to New Zealand’s losing bidders. The coverage we found doesn’t say.
When BSP’s circular takes effect. It’s still a draft, and its effective date starts the six-month clocks.
Why it matters
Two things separate what moved in September from what didn’t. The first is dates. Items that carried a date, such as the B2B deadline, smart tables, and New Zealand, are the ones to plan around. Items that carried only intent, like the split, are the ones that kept shifting. The second is source quality. Smart tables went from “no earlier than the second half of 2027” on an unnamed-source report to a January 1, 2027 start on the record in about a week. Bitget’s reported loss moved from $178 million to $351.6 million to about $387.5 million. First numbers and first timelines were provisional more often than not.
The other pattern was labels that didn’t match what stood behind them. Stake held a licence while its regulator documented not knowing the real owner. Century described a partner as PAGCOR-accredited after that accreditation was cancelled. Bitget said user funds are safe after a loss that CertiK described as roughly three-quarters of its user protection fund. Tabcorp had a multi-factor authentication rule on paper and at least 195 customer accounts accessed without authorization. The Phnom Penh Declaration was called a 30-nation pact and is 28 countries and voluntary. Entain’s New Zealand “warning to 15 brands” was a forecast from a bidder. In each case the useful move was checking what stood behind the status.
What to watch in October
September 30 and October 1. The B2B accreditation deadline closes September 30, and PAGCOR said unaccredited systems would be decommissioned starting October 1. We found no further extension in the coverage as of this week. As of late July only 66 suppliers had completed accreditation, so watch for any PAGCOR statement on how many did.
October 2. Bitget’s staged withdrawal resumption, scheduled to start September 28 with Bitcoin, is due to finish.
October 5. Public comments on parts of PAGCOR’s oversight framework close.
October 23. New Zealand applications are due from auction winners, after the results of the September 29 auction.
End of the third quarter. PhilWeb said its exclusive Games Global rollout would go live within the third quarter, subject to regulatory approvals. A confirmation or a slip is the test.
Further out. December 1 is New Zealand’s stop date. January 1, 2027 brings the smart table start for Entertainment City and, in Australia, a law raising BetStop penalties. Japan has said a new round of IR licence bids will open in 2027, and Tengco’s term and his online gaming law target both run to June 30, 2028.
What this means for operators
Confirm every B2B supplier’s accreditation against PAGCOR’s current list before October 1, and do the same for any joint venture or reseller partner, since a partner’s status can change before a public statement catches up. If you serve New Zealand players, decide your position before the dates arrive, not after. If you run an Entertainment City resort, confirm where you stand against the January 1 smart table start.
What this means for compliance
Use the October 5 window if any part of the oversight framework affects your structure. Expect payment partners to ask more of you as BSP’s merchant review progresses, and document how you answer. Update counterparty files for any Bitget exposure and any Curaçao-licensed counterparties, treating a licence as the start of due diligence, not the end.
What this means for industry bodies
Ask PAGCOR for smart table specifications and a definition of what counts as having started, and for a ruling on whether an accredited intermediary can cure a lost accreditation. Begin position papers for the online gaming law now, since its window runs to June 2028 and early input has the most influence.