Philippine lawmakers voted earlier today in favor of proposed amendments to the country’s anti-money laundering regulations. The amended law will now cover the Philippines’ lucrative gambling industry, including land-based and online gambling operations as well as gambling services provided on board of cruise ships.
Both chambers of the Philippine Congress passed separate, but similar in their nature, bills that call for an expansion and improvement of the country’s current regulatory framework for the prevention of money laundering and related illicit financial flows.
The amendments to the existing laws had been urged by the Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering, an autonomous international organization that includes more than 40 countries from the region. The body had given the Philippine government up until June 2017 to implement anti-money laundering reforms that, among other areas, would also apply to gambling operations, specifically to transactions related to gambling.
The Philippines and its money laundering laws appeared on the radar screen last year in relation to the Bangladesh Bank heist. More than $81 million were stolen from the central bank of Bangladesh and were allegedly laundered in Philippine casinos.
The rather lax casino money laundering regulations hampered investigation and made it quite difficult for authorities and police to trace the Bangladesh money and find out who the perpetrators were.
Commenting on today’s positive vote, Josephine Sato, one of the lawmakers behind the proposed amendments, said that the Philippines should provide greater transparency and thus protect its expanding casino industry from being used for illicit transactions.
Under the approved amendments, casino transactions of over PHP5 million will have to be reported to a competent anti-money laundering agency.
The Philippines has turned into a major gambling hub over the past several years, luring high roller casino players from Mainland China and the rest of the Asia-Pacific region with its newly opened integrated resorts. To boost investment in its capital, Manila, the country has introduced the Entertainment City plan.
The multi-billion dollar project involved the construction of four luxury casino complexes in the heart of the Philippine capital. Three of the resorts have been launched and have so far proved to be quite popular with gambling customers and international tourists.
Philippine lawmakers described today’s positive vote on the proposed anti-money laundering amendments as great success. However, they pointed out that passing those was not an easy task as they had been lobbied strongly against by local casino operators.
With both chambers of the Philippine legislature voting in favor of the reform, it will now have to be approved by President Rodrigo Duterte. It is believed that the country’s highest ranking official will sign the amendments into law in June.
