Philippine Laundering Risks Still Seen Despite Online Casino Ban
- Eradicating organized crime is challenging, Moody’s says
- Philippines is poised to exit FATF’s gray list early this year
Ferdinand Marcos Jr. last year outlawed online casinos catering to foreign bettors.
Photographer: Ore Huiying/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
The Philippines’ ban on online casinos hasn’t eliminated money laundering risks, and any failure to stamp out illegal entities could undercut efforts to permanently exit a global watchlist, according to a Moody’s analyst.
“There are still inherent risks, and it’s not just the underground online gaming,” Choon Hong Chua, head of the financial crime practice group for Asia Pacific and the Middle East at Moody’s, said in an interview. “We’ve seen examples in the past when some of the scam centers were masquerading as call centers and data centers.”