PAGCOR Is Weighing a Smart-Table Mandate for Every Philippine Casino, but Not Before the Second Half of 2027

The Philippine regulator wants live visibility of bets across the gaming floor, according to Inside Asian Gaming, which reports that a mandate originally planned for this year has slipped and would start with the integrated resorts. PAGCOR has not announced the policy.

• The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) is looking to require smart gaming table technology at all casinos and integrated resorts nationwide, Inside Asian Gaming (IAG) reported on 23 September
• According to IAG's sources, the mandate is now unlikely before the second half of 2027 and would probably apply first to the large integrated resorts, with smaller casinos brought in later
• IAG says the aim is greater visibility of transactions as they happen on the gaming floor, and that PAGCOR is reluctant to demand heavy investment while casino revenue is under pressure
• Only a handful of Philippine operators use smart tables today, among them both Solaire properties and Newport World Resorts, according to the report
• The move would come as PAGCOR waits on the Office of the President to split its regulator and operator roles, and as the central bank tightens control of gambling payments

A Mandate in Preparation, Not Yet Announced

PAGCOR, the regulator of casinos in the Philippines, is looking to mandate smart gaming table technology at every casino and integrated resort in the country, IAG reported, citing what it had learned rather than a published policy. Smart tables use sensors, typically in chips and on the table surface, to record each wager and payout automatically, giving the operator, and in this case the regulator, a live record of play at tables that are otherwise tracked by dealers, inspectors and cameras.

The timetable has moved. IAG said the mandate was originally planned for 2026 but is now unlikely to be issued until at least the second half of 2027, and would probably be limited at first to the large integrated resorts. Smaller casinos would follow later, according to its sources, because PAGCOR is reluctant to require substantial investment at a time when casino revenue has been hit by tourism headwinds and wider economic conditions. PAGCOR has not published a draft rule, a cost estimate or a list of the technical standards it would require.

Adoption is limited today. IAG named Solaire Resort Entertainment City, Solaire Resort North in Quezon City and Newport World Resorts as operators already using the technology.

Macau Went First, for a Different Reason

IAG compared the plan with the Macau government's 2024 recommendation that its six gaming concessionaires deploy smart tables, which it said was framed around the ability to calculate bets by foreign players, after the government said concessionaires could receive a tax deduction of up to 5% on gross gaming revenue from foreign play. All six concessionaires now run comprehensive smart-table systems, according to IAG, and the technology's use there has since shifted towards player loyalty schemes and higher-margin side bets.

For a Regulator, the Point Is Visibility, and the Philippines Has Reasons to Want It

The case for a mandate in Manila is different from Macau's. The Philippine authorities have spent the past year trying to see and control money moving through gambling, from the central bank's crackdown on payment merchants fronting for online casinos to anti-money laundering scrutiny of the land-based sector. A table that records every bet gives the regulator an independent data stream on buy-ins, play and payouts, which is the basis of transaction monitoring and of an accurate tax base. It also narrows the room for the cash-heavy, relationship-driven play that regulators find hardest to supervise.

The Cost Falls Hardest on the Operators With the Least Margin, Which Explains the Phasing

Smart-table systems are a significant capital outlay, per table, plus integration with casino management systems and surveillance. For the integrated resorts, several of which already have the technology or the scale to absorb it, a mandate is manageable and may even help with loyalty and side-bet revenue, as it has in Macau. For smaller licensees it is a cost with little commercial upside, which is why a phased start is the realistic design. There is also a governance wrinkle: until the regulator and operator roles are separated, PAGCOR would be imposing a requirement that, if it applies to all casinos as reported, would also reach the casinos it runs itself.

The policy is not yet on paper, and the timetable has already slipped once. When a draft appears, the questions to answer are which technical standard it sets, who owns the data, and how quickly the smaller casinos are expected to follow.