Tengco Wants an Online Gaming Law by 2028 as Century Says It Knew in April Its Partner Lost Its Licences

PAGCOR's chairman wants the online market written into statute before his term ends, so that it "will not easily be scrapped". A Hong Kong-listed newcomer has meanwhile shown how much of that market still rests on the regulator's accreditations, and how quickly they can go.

• PAGCOR Chairman and CEO Alejandro Tengco wants a new online gaming law enacted before his term ends in 2028, Inside Asian Gaming reported on 29 September from an interview at its IAG EXPO; no such law exists, and Congress has bills both to regulate and to restrict the product
• Century Entertainment International Holdings (HKEX: 959) says in its annual report that it was told in mid-April 2026 that its Philippine partner's Gaming System Administrator (GSA) and Gaming Content Provider (GCP) licences had been cancelled
• The partner is World Platinum Technologies (WPT), which PAGCOR told IAG in July had lost its GSA accreditation in April; on 25 June Century still described WPT as "a PAGCOR-accredited service provider"
• Century says its business continues through a separate PAGCOR-accredited distributor and another licensed platform, and that its Philippine lawyers advise its operations "are not affected as a matter of Philippines gaming law"
• The company reported HK$30.3 million (approximately $3.9 million) in revenue and an HK$8.6 million profit for the year to 31 March, but its auditor flags a material uncertainty over its survival and its shares have been suspended since June 2025

Tengco Wants the Market Written Into Law

Alejandro Tengco wants online gaming written into statute before he leaves the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation. In the final part of an interview series published on 29 September, Inside Asian Gaming (IAG) says he "details his desire to have a new online gaming law enacted before his term ends in 2028". That term ends on 30 June 2028, alongside President Ferdinand Marcos Jr's, according to iGaming Business.

In May he told iGaming Business that a comprehensive online gaming law was one of three things he wants to complete, with decoupling PAGCOR's regulator and operator roles and a new headquarters. A law, he said, would make the industry more stable: "There is a structure, there is a law, so it will not easily be scrapped."

Until then the market runs on PAGCOR's own rules, which it has tightened steadily, with limits on advertising and rebates and a minimum guaranteed fee that Century's annual report says took effect on 1 July 2026. Gross gaming revenue reached a record PHP396 billion (approximately $6.4 billion) in 2025 but fell 16% in the first quarter of 2026, with online revenue down 23%, according to iGaming Business, after the central bank forced e-wallets to delink from gambling sites.

Where Congress Stands

No comprehensive online gaming law has been enacted. BusinessMirror reported in March that the Senate and PAGCOR were drafting a bill for a new regulatory framework, with tighter payment channel controls and marketing restrictions. Senate bills filed since 2025 include measures to ban the product outright, a risk S&P Global has cited for the market leader DigiPlus. House Bill 10982, an online gambling advertising ban filed by Representative Karen Hope Garcia on 26 August, has yet to be scheduled for committee hearings, according to Yogonet, and Senator Francis Escudero's Senate Bill 2347 seeks a similar ban. PAGCOR's formal position, set out in July 2025, is that it is "duty-bound to follow any and all relevant regulations once they are passed by Congress and signed into law by the President".

Century's Partner Lost Its Licences, and Century Says It Kept Operating

Century Entertainment, formerly Amax International Holdings, ended its Cambodian table business in April 2025 and entered Philippine online gaming in July 2025 through Konphil Technology, a Hong Kong joint venture it owns 51% to its partner's 49%. The annual report, published on 25 September, calls that partner only the "Strategic Partner". Century's announcement of 25 June named it as WPT, "a PAGCOR-accredited service provider duly licensed to provide electronic gaming machines (EGMs), gaming content, and related services", with which Konphil signed a deployment agreement on 2 April covering 27 games at seven gaming venues.

The annual report now says that "in mid-April 2026, the Group was informed by the Strategic Partner that its GSA and GCP licences had been cancelled." PAGCOR told IAG in July that WPT's GSA accreditation had been cancelled in April, without giving a reason.

Century's answer is a set of workarounds. It says Konphil appointed a separate PAGCOR-accredited GCP as its exclusive distributor before 26 March, when a new PAGCOR requirement took effect obliging foreign game providers to be accredited as a GCP or to use one, and that in early April the partner appointed another accredited GSA to carry Konphil's platforms. "The Group's Philippines legal counsel has concluded that the agreement between the Strategic Partner and the other PAGCOR-accredited GSA is valid," the report says, and the directors "consider that the cancellation of the Strategic Partner's GSA and GCP licences does not, as a matter of Philippines gaming law, affect the Group's Phase IV operations."

Under that Phase IV model, Konphil keeps the net gaming revenue from dedicated virtual gaming rooms and pays the partner a 15% "Runner's Fee", while the partner or its designated licensed party remains "the surface operator responsible for all PAGCOR compliance" and "the banker bearing all game risk"; the definitive agreement is still pending. Century reports unaudited Phase IV revenue of HK$53.9 million (approximately $6.9 million) for April to June. Its full-year profit of HK$8.6 million (approximately $1.1 million), after a HK$45.7 million loss, was helped by gains from a settlement with Ng Man Sun, reappointed chairman in April, and waivers of payables. The group had net liabilities of HK$116.4 million (approximately $14.9 million) at 31 March, its largest customer supplied 78.26% of revenue, and its auditor, Crowe (HK), cites a material uncertainty over its ability to continue as a going concern.

The June Disclosure Is the Question Century Has Not Answered

Century's own timeline places the cancellation in mid-April. Its 25 June announcement still described WPT as PAGCOR-accredited, called it "a reliable partner, having demonstrated its operational capabilities through its PAGCOR-accredited platform", and set out a HK$100 million (approximately $12.8 million) revenue guarantee WPT gave Konphil on 30 May, after the cancellation. The annual report does not reconcile the two, and iGaming Times could find no reference in it to the guarantee. The Hong Kong exchange told Century on 9 July that it must show its internal controls are adequate before its shares can trade again. A June description of the partner that sits uneasily with the company's own account of what that partner had lost in April is the kind of question that guidance exists to answer.

Century's Model Is What PAGCOR's Supplier Rules Were Meant to Tidy Up

PAGCOR has spent this year pushing suppliers into direct accreditation, with a 31 March deadline for B2B providers. Century says its structure complies through intermediaries: a distributor holding the GCP accreditation, a GSA that is not its partner, and a partner that, according to the report, carries the game risk after losing its own licences. Its lawyers say that is lawful, and PAGCOR has said nothing publicly to the contrary. But a business whose revenue rests on layers of other companies' accreditations is exactly the kind a regulator can reshape with one circular, which is the uncertainty Tengco says a law would end.

A Law Would Bind PAGCOR as Much as the Operators

Tengco's case for statute is stability: a market set out in law cannot be scrapped by a hostile Senate. The same law would fix what PAGCOR now changes by regulation, from fees to marketing limits to who may supply games. With ban bills still filed and about 21 months left in his term, he needs a bill the ban camp can accept, and the price of permanence is likely to be rules stricter than the ones operators already complain about.

Tengco wants the Philippine online market to outlast him. Century's year shows how much of it still depends on accreditations the regulator grants and cancels on its own terms.