PhilWeb gets accreditation from Pagcor

MANILA, Philippines - PhilWeb Corp., the listed gaming company now owned by businessman Gregorio “Greggy” Araneta III, would soon be able to operate again after receiving the green light from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) to become a service provider.

This comes more than a year since the company, then led by Roberto Ongpin, was forced to shut down after its license expired on Aug. 10, 2016, days after President Duterte singled him out as an oligarch who must be destroyed.

Ongpin has since sold his stake in PhilWeb 17 years after he founded it, selling 771.7 million shares or 53.75 percent of the company to Araneta.

After months of appealing to Pagcor, PhilWeb has finally been issued the Provisional Certificate of Accreditation as an Electronic Gaming System (EGS) service provider.

Pagcor approved the accreditation in a recent board meeting, industry sources told The Star.

As an accredited EGS service provider, PhilWeb can start offering again its software and other services to the operators of Pagcor-licensed gaming sites for electronic games.

Pagcor will soon conduct an inspection of PhilWeb’s servers and gaming facilities as required under the accreditation rules, after which it may then issue a notice to operate.

“We’re ready to operate,” Araneta told The Star in a recent interview.

He said the company could then go back to contributing a significant amount of revenue to Pagcor.

PhilWeb remitted P2.1 billion to Pagcor in 2015, the last full year that it operated before its contract with the regulator expired in last year.

The new Pagcor administration led by chairman and CEO Andrea Domingo has introduced the new accreditation process for service providers such as PhilWeb, different from the licensing system in the past, which could limit choices of operators of electronic games.

“This allows for a level playing field for any qualified provider,” she said, adding that the different operators of Pagcor’s electronic gaming outlets would be able to choose the service provider or providers that can best assist them in operating their outlets.

PhilWeb president Dennis Valdes thanked the regulators.

“We are grateful to Pagcor chairman Domingo and the entire Board of Directors of Pagcor for their faith in our company and for giving us the opportunity to deliver services to their electronic gaming operators once again,” Valdes said.

The company is behind e-Games Stations, which are Internet cafes exclusively dedicated to casino games. With technology provided by PhilWeb, patrons can choose from more than 300 casino games, including baccarat, blackjack, various slot machine games, video poker and sports betting.

There were 287 operating e-Games cafes across the country, majority of which are owned and operated by 131 independent entrepreneurs.

The e-Games network had some 6,000 employees.