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With Ongpin out, PhilWeb hoping to get back PAGCOR license


Following the lapse of its license with the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR) on Wednesday, gaming technology firm PhilWeb Corp. said it plans to appeal to the casino regulator to get back a new contract for the company to continue operations.

“What PAGCOR said is that we are winding down the e-Games services of PhilWeb to PAGCOR. Nothing prevents us from applying for a new contract with PAGCOR,” PhilWeb President Dennis Valdes told stockholders of the company during an emergency meeting in Makati.

The company’s intellectual property license agreement (IPLA) with PAGCOR was extended until August 10. PAGCOR on Tuesday said it will not renew its contract with the company

Majority shareholder Roberto V. Ongpin also on Wednesday announced plans to divest all his shares in a last-ditch effort to save the company. He said it was only caught up in the mess after he was singled out by President Rodrigo Duterte as one of the oligarchs that needed to be weeded out of government influence.

“I have to be totally and completely out of the picture for Dennis to be able to renew the contract,” Ongpin told shareholders.

For his part, Valdes said he hopes to score a new contract as soon as possible, as the company will continue to employ thousands of staff even without revenues for the time being.

“It’s not only the PhilWeb company itself. Every operator has staff so everyday that you don’t operate you’re paying staff but there’s no revenue. So it’s very important that I work very closely with the PAGCOR board to get a contract as soon as possible so we can renew or rather restart operations,” he said on the sidelines of the stockholder’s meeting.

PhilWeb currently operates 286 e-Games outlets which in turn employ some 5,000 people.

Valdes noted, however, that the company is still hopeful that it will be able to resume talks with PAGCOR soon.

“My personal thought is provided you have the hope of operating this business, because it is a great business, you should continue to operate so we will hold off (closing) as long as there is a possibility of getting that license,” he said.

The Philippine Stock Exchange(PSE)  on Wednesday issued a temporary trading suspension on PhilWeb shares until 9:00 a.m. of August 24. The company sought for a voluntary trading halt until the end of August. 

“I am hopeful that we will get restarted fairly quickly. By that time we believe that if we’re lucky we should be all done. If earlier, we can ask the PSE to lift suspension,” Valdes said. —JST, GMA News

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