Philippine’s Most-wanted Spotted at a Casino During his Prison Term

One of the Philippine's most wanted high-profile criminals, Rolito Go, allegedly visited a PAGCOR (Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation) casino branch in Pampanga. PAGCOR is the government-owned and controlled corporation, whose job is to regulate casino gaming according to the Philippine gambling laws.

The incident happened at the time when Mr. Go was found missing from the New Bilibid Prison. Rolito Go insists on saying that he was actually kidnapped from the prison. Witnesses say the criminal appeared in the casino to play his favorite game, Baccarat – allegedly he is such a fan that he is rumored to play the card game frequently at online gambling sites in Philippines. Mr. Go was arrested again shortly after the incident and was sent back to continue his sentence.

PAGCOR denies the reports, and states that no employees of the Casino Filipino Angeles in Pampanga saw Mr. Go on the premises. Both PAGCOR’s Security Head and the General Manager of the casino in question verified the staff's statement. “We wish to emphasize that PAGCOR does not tolerate the entry of restricted personalities such as known fugitives from justice to our casinos” PAGCOR stated.

PAGCOR plays an important role in the economics of the Philippines. Apart from regulating land gambling and to a certain extent internet gambling in Philippines, one of its main roles is to boost tourism.

As required by Philippine gambling law, PAGCOR has to transfer at least half its annual gross revenue to the government. The Bureau of Treasury of the Philippines has already made the estimates on the agency's contribution in 2012: The PAGCOR government agency is supposed to contribute a minimum of PHP (Philippine Peso) 11.1 billion, or USD 267 million to the budget.

PAGCOR is likely to pass the mark, as the corporation already paid PHP 6.855 billion to the Philippine government in the first half of this year.