Friday, August 04, 2006

Gambling goes high tech

Our country surely has gone a long way compared to how were in the early days of online gambling. There were even efforts then to pass a legislation with the intent of blocking it.

The popularity of the Internet allowed the surge in online gaming, as well as in online gambling. The Philippine Amusent and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) is no exemption from realizing this opportunity and saw it as a venue to boost its revenues, which in turn is used to fund government projects. Last year, PAGCOR granted a ten year contract to broadcast live, in-progress casino table games from Filipino casinos to Kenilworth using Roulabette.

Roulabette(TM) is a method and system for placing wagers on live, in-progress casino table games such as roulette, baccarat and dice from locations remote from the actual casino tables at which the games are taking place. The system begins at the casino, where television cameras in strategic locations above the casino table games follow the games being played at the casino tables, and microphones pick up the sounds of the table play. The game play is transmitted via digital satellite and cable transmissions to subscribers who are able to wager by using set top boxes which receive the broadcast of the game and record wagers and results. Although there were a lot of worries whether it is legal or not especially now that the US government is going on a crackdown campaign. Online gambling is also illegal in France.

However, it is expected that addiction to gaming will increase as the Internet allows a gambler to compete with anyone in the world, 24 hours a day. The Philippines is also becoming a popular destination for global operation of gambling sites due to the government's ability to issue online gambling licenses for online casino sites. Online casino operators in the Philippines pay a 2 percent tax on their gross winnings. Singapore is also competing in becoming an online casino hub.

Online gambling is not only limited in Metro Manila. You now have companies like First Cagayan offering similar services and capable of issuing licenses too. Games are also no longer limited to your traditional casino games but includes regular sports betting services like basketball or football games and even cockfights as well.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

FirstCagayan is the only issuer of online gambling licenses in the country. Licensees though are free to establish their operations in Metro Manila. A lot of live webcam online casinos are now setup and operating in Makati. These companies are driving a lot of investment dollars and generating a lot of new high paying jobs. The FirstCagayan license prohibits licensees from offering services to people in the Philippines.