The Philippines has decided to dismantle the worst of its offshored industries: the bits that run gambling and scam operations.instructions to the country's gaming agency, Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation , to"wind down and cease operations" of Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators by the end of the year.
POGOs are businesses licensed by the Philippine government to provide online gambling services to players outside the country – mostly mainland China, where gambling is illegal. The orgs have become more prominent and economically significant over the past decade, providing tax revenue, fees, and jobs for both Filipinos and foreign nationals – again, mainly from China.
"Disguising as legitimate entities, their operations have ventured into illicit areas furthest from gaming such as financial scamming, money laundering, prostitution, human trafficking, kidnapping, brutal torture, even murder,"875 workers – 371 Filipinos, 432 Chinese, eight Malaysians, 57 Vietnamese nationals, three Taiwanese nationals, two Indonesians, and two Rwandans – from an operation in the province of Tarlac.
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