Daily brief
Regulatory · Philippines · Thu 17 Sept · 3 min read
Casino Filipino losses accelerate PAGCOR split
What happened
PAGCOR Chairman Alejandro Tengco confirmed on September 15, 2026 that the Governance Commission for Government-Owned and Controlled Corporations (GCG) will endorse PAGCOR's decoupling proposal to President Marcos "very soon." The proposal would separate PAGCOR's two current functions: operating casinos and regulating the gaming industry. Those roles have sat inside one agency for decades.
The immediate financial context is Casino Filipino, PAGCOR's state-run casino chain, which is described in sourced reporting as "bleeding heavily." That operating loss is the clearest pressure point pushing the timeline forward. A separate report from InsiderPH puts a P30 billion figure on a potential casino asset sale that the regulatory overhaul would enable.
Separately, the PAGCOR chief is also managing messaging ahead of the Philippines' 2027 FATF review, publicly downplaying casino-sector risks. That context matters: the decoupling is happening alongside, not independent of, the country's international AML compliance calendar.
Why it matters
Sources: Google News
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