A Brief Look at the Dark Side of Online Gambling in Asia
South Korean law enforcers busted a Chinese online gambling group in the country last October, whose illicit operations are valued at 5.7 trillion Korean Won. On the other hand, since the Chinese government doesn’t allow offline and online gambling, it’s widely presumed that illegal operators are based in neighboring Asian countries. Some claim they are licensed by the Philippine Amusement ang Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR) but this piece of info still needs verification.
As it is, gambling in South Korea is a tricky venture because local gamblers have to make sure they are playing only on trustworthy sites. They are at risk of either being discovered for illegal gambling; or of being scammed by eat and run online gambling operators. That is why when we play to gamble online, we limit our choice of casino or 우리카지노 (ulikajino) to the selections recommended by a trusted online casino community. The members of this group are mostly verifiers of eat and run online casino operators acting as protectors against the scams and scalawags of SoKor’s silent online gambling and gaming industry.
Are PAGCOR POGOs Trustworthy?
While the Philippine POGOs or Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators have made gambling via the Internet possible in South Korea, local gamblers should have awareness that currently, PAGCOR only has 34 POGOs under its regulatory supervision. The rest, of which there are about 200 or more, are operating in the Philippines without PAGCOR permit.
During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, POGOs rose to popularity in Asia as PAGCOR allowed them to continue with their online gambling operations, including in South Korea. However, as Philippine authorities saw opportunities for collecting higher taxes, operators have to pay at least 5% tax on gross gambling revenue in addition to other requirements. As a result, POGOs had either gone rogue or had sought accreditation with another internationally recognized gambling regulatory body. That being the case, the state of the Philippine-based online gambling operations faced a major decline in the year 2022 as only 34 remain PAGCOR accredited.
The Importance of Looking into Regulatory Bodies when Choosing an Online Casino
Obviously, gambling with real money is a serious transaction especially if it takes place online. The first rule of course is to play only in online gambling sites that are licensed by reputable Gambling Commissions, whose primary goal is to ensure the protection of consumers who gamble online.
While the PAGCOR is into regulating online gambling operators, PAGCOR’s primary goal is to ensure entities under their supervision are paying the taxes due in the right amount and at the right time. At present PAGCOR faces other challenges since latest Philippine news say that Chinese POGOs in the country are linked to cases of kidnapping.