Online Cockfighting Boom in Philippines Triggers Senate Scrutiny
(Bloomberg) -- The Philippines' booming online cockfighting industry that's getting billions of pesos in monthly bets is facing scrutiny from lawmakers who want to halt betting and impose stricter regulations.
The Southeast Asian nation's gaming regulator should heed the Senate's recommendation to suspend online cockfighting operations while cases of more than 30 missing cockfighters are being resolved, Senator Ronald dela Rosa who heads the public order committee said at an inquiry on Friday. Other lawmakers sought to increase the government's revenue share and limit the industry's round-the-clock operations.
Online cockfighting has seen a surge in the Philippines, as bettors get easier access through mobile phones while they're confined to their homes during the pandemic.
Lucky 8 Star Quest Inc., one of the companies licensed to operate online cockfighting, gets about 60 billion pesos ($1.16 billion) in bets per month, owner Charlie “Atong” Ang told the Senate. The company collects a 5% fee from bettors which translates to about 3 billion pesos in revenues each month, Ang said. After expenses and commissions paid to its agents, Lucky 8 gets about 800 million pesos to 900 million pesos in earnings, Ang said.
Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. stands to lose as much as 640 million pesos in monthly revenue if online cockfighting is halted, chairman Andrea Domingo said at the Senate hearing. “This is not an easy thing to do. It has a very strong effect on revenue generation,” she said of the proposal to suspend the online game.
What the gaming agency collects monthly from online cockfighting operators is a “pittance” compared to their gross income, Senator Franklin Drilon said.
©2022 Bloomberg L.P.
-
Signature Play: The Classic Cocktail Is Dead. Or Is It?
Classic cocktails are disappearing from India's cocktail menus. But they're still being ordered, taught to bartenders and borrowed from. So, who's really having the last drink?
-
A New Samvat Wishlist: Inclusive Prosperity And Human Development
India has strengthened its economic foundations through infrastructure, digital access and enterprise. Its next growth chapter must deepen productivity, create better livelihoods and widen participation in prosperity.
-
Love, Sex Aur Dhokha: The Audacious Plot To Spy On Jensen Huang
A Taipei dinner, a Singapore chip buyer and a suspected Chinese asset: inside the alleged spy operation that got close to NVIDIA's Jensen Huang.
-
Ten Things I Learnt This Samvat
Patience can be a trap. Cheap stocks can stay cheap. Leverage can wipe you out. What did Samvat 2082 teach us? Niraj Shah writes on 10 lessons from the year gone by.
-
Talking Points This Week: Tech Nerves, FII Buying, And A Faraway Banking Shock
The global markets are not shining this Diwali. The exception in the large markets is, India.
-
Midterm Rally Lasted A Day. The Hard Reality Of A Divided US May Last Two Years | Opinion
Between a contested AI boom, a debt ceiling that arrives in 2027 and a president with every incentive to act alone, the next two years may prove more volatile than the first day's rally suggests.
-
Blue Wave Will Derail the AI Trade but Won't Dismantle the AI Era | Unhedged Position
The Democrats' sweep of the US Congress will see politics collide with economic forces both over the long and short term.
-
It's Time To Take The GST Council's Bet On Trust Global
Payment records can prove India's services exports, and clear, proportionate rules can bring foreign digital sellers into the tax net.
-
Opinion | India at 38: From Innovation Overperformer to Innovation Powerhouse
India now has 453 VC-backed deep science startups, 18 of them late-stage, after 117 percent growth since 2020. Laurus Labs, at USD 9.3 billion, is the most valuable deep science company in any middle-income economy outside China.
