Due to the proximity of the two countries, many local Chinese would go to the Philippines for business and profit, engaging in different trades and activities. Although there are no exact records when gambling was first practiced in the archipelago, it is possible that some forms were introduced by the Chinese in the late sixteenth century. History Origins In this illustration from the 1734 Carta Hydrographica y Chorographica de las Yslas Filipinas, two Filipino natives can be seen engrossed over a cockfightĮven before the Spanish colonization., gambling is said to have already been present in the Philippines.
Casino gambling and integrated resorts have become a key component of the Philippines appeal as a tourist destination with more than twenty casinos found in Metro Manila alone. Since 2016 PAGCOR has also granted operating licenses and overseen the regulation of growing online gambling sector serving offshore markets. The government manages gambling through the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) a state-owned enterprise which both operates a number of individual casinos and in turn acts as a regulator to privately owned casino operators. Various legal and illegal forms of gambling are found almost all over the archipelago.
Gambling has been present in the Philippines since at least the sixteenth century.
