There are a handful of folks in this nation of sporting pundits, casino high-rollers and gaming aficionados who see PAGCOR as an organization to be removed. Most of the opponents are in theocratic circles.  The church’s bishops for example oppose an organized gambling body.  For administrative purposes the government is taking full charge of the gaming administration through PAGCOR.

Community development initiatives thru PAGCOR

PAGCOR is also able to generate lots of money for the development of the Filipino industry and related sectors. With a large population – a large minority of them indigent – there is a lot of good work that tax revenue from gambling can do for socio-economic upliftment initiatives. Much of the money comes from the following sectors: sports betting, casino gaming revenue and sports betting exchanges.

There are many top-class online casinos operating for the benefit of Filipino clients and customers. These include the following: Lucky Nugget, Gaming Club, River Belle, Party Casino, King Neptunes and Royal Vegas. These are some of the most popular casinos and they offer competitive bonuses and exciting promotional offers.

Sportsbetting is where it’s at

But it’s not the online casinos where all the attention is being focused with Philippines gaming, it’s with sportsbooks. Punters are the bread and butter of the Philippines gaming industry. To this end there are a myriad of bets going on with sportsbooks especially with the FIFA 2010 World Cup. Bwin is the leading sportsbook among fans of this island nation as is Bet365.

Customers from the Philippines signing up for Bet365 are eligible for a $200 matching bonus. In addition there is live in-play betting which brings you the latest odds in real time. But better yet – because they can’t be there at the 2010 FIFA World Cup – they still get to see the action live and in play with live streaming television.

You find all the usual traditional casino games (like blackjack, baccarat, roulette and slots) but is only open to players over the age of 21.

If you’re already familiar with PAGCORS e-Games cafés which are dotted around the country and operated by PhilWeb then you won’t have any trouble with the new site as its simply an online version of these games.

Wondering about deposit methods? Well, there are few to choose from so again you shouldn’t have a problem. The site is supported by PhilWeb’s easy and convenient payment platform. However, you also have the option of visiting cashiers in Manila or wiring money through accredited banks or Click2Pay e-wallet. Additional payments methods will be added in the future such as load PINs, money transfers via online banking, and local credit cards.

Orient Capital Ventures Inc (OCVI) which is based in Manila, recently got a sportsbook license from PAGCOR which we are all familiar with as the main regulatory body for the gaming industry in the Philippines.  OCVI chose iBroker from the Irish-based Global Betting Exchange (GBE) to be its sportsbook software. OMVI operates as a subsidiary of AsianLogic Limited which is widely regarded as one of the leading online and land based gaming operators in the Asia Pacific region.

The retail portion of the whole operation which will also include SMS and telephone betting services is currently in the process of being introduced to OCVI’s outlets and its local operating partners under the ‘MegaSportsWorld’ brand. MegaSportsWorld is simply the trade name of OCVI and is also a fully licensed sports book registered in the Philippines

The Pacquiao-Cotto fight last weekend was considered to be a huge test for the new sportsbook because of the huge number of one-sided bets wagered but apparently the system managed the load smoothly.

Don’t know about you, but I’m going to check them out and see what they have to offer. The more operators there are the better I reckon for us as customers. Competition encourages better bonuses and customer service.

Online gambling has been legal in the Philippines since 2000 which is when the Philippines Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) became the only authorized gambling operator in the Philippines.  PAGCOR is state owned and operated and runs casinos, bingo, sports betting and betting exchanges both online and through land based casinos. In 2000, PAGCOR authorized the Sports and Games Entertainment Corp to be the exclusive operator of the Philippines’ only online casino –  www.sagecasino.com.

In 2001, the internet gaming industry was very nearly closed down by the President but had a lucky escape due to the his impeachment that year.

In 2002, the government opened the internet gaming industry to competition and granted a company called Philweb control of online casinos.

In March this year it was reported that the Philippines was looking to ban all online gambling except for horse racing, fantasy sports league game betting and those bets made for the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office lotto.

Anyone heard anything more about this?