POGO Retrospective: Former Philippine Offshore Gaming Industry Linked to Drug Syndicates and Land Theft

New NBI investigations reveal that the banned POGO industry in the Philippines was deeply linked to land grabs and Chinese-led drug syndicates. Read more here.

By: AXL Media

Published: Mar 28, 2026, 7:12 AM EDT

Source: Information for this report was sourced from Marjorie Preston's POGO retrospective.

A Legacy of Crime Beyond the Boardroom

The shadow of the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operations (POGO) industry continues to loom over the country’s legal and social landscape. Despite the 2024 ban and the 2025 deadline for total exit, the National Bureau of Investigation-National Capital Region (NBI-NCR) recently announced a probe into the alleged illegal seizure of rural land in Bataan Province. Local farmers claim their ancestral and agricultural parcels were transferred without authorization to a holding company linked to Harry Roque, the former spokesman for President Rodrigo Duterte. Roque, who is currently facing human trafficking charges, reportedly fled to Austria last year, leaving a trail of "falsified documents" that the NBI is now scrutinizing for potential prosecution.

The Institutionalized Rise and Fall of POGOs

First legalized in 2016 under the Duterte administration, POGOs were initially framed as a significant revenue stream, contributing approximately PHP5.17 billion (US$86 million) to the national treasury in 2023 alone. However, the industry’s reputation collapsed following a series of high-profile raids that revealed a dark underbelly of human rights abuses. Authorities discovered that many "legitimate" gaming entities were actually fronts for crypto-scam centers, forced labor camps, and prostitution rings. In his 2024 State of the Nation address, President Marcos Jr. characterized the industry as a "plague," citing everything from money laundering to brutal torture and murder as justification for the total ban.

Syndicates and the Drug Trade Connection

The fallout from the POGO era has extended into the Philippines' ongoing battle against narcotics. Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla recently disclosed that a majority of the active drug syndicates in the country are led by Chinese nationals who originally entered the Philippines using POGO-affiliated visas. At a recent event in Trece Martires City, law enforcement officials oversaw the destruction of PHP4.56 billion worth of confiscated illegal drugs—a haul representing only the last six months of operations. Remulla noted that the infrastructure provided by the POGO industry from 2016 to 2025 created a vacuum that foreign syndicates quickly filled, leading to a surge in organized crime that the government is still struggling to dismantle.