The exciting Philippines gambling industry could be in for another shake up following Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) Director General Charito Plaza announced that online gambling firms would be barred from leasing office space in PEZA accredited buildings.

Plaza made the announcement late Sunday after the PEZA board met with the highly influential Information Technology and Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP).

“The OP (Office of the President) already wants to legalize online gaming. They asked PEZA for us to allow to locate BPOs (business process outsourcing companies) who are into online gaming,” Plaza said. “After meeting with the PEZA board and the BPO association, we reached a consensus that we will not allow because first, gambling is not a mandate of PEZA. Second, allowing it might affect operations of our legitimate BPO locators.”

When the news first broke there was some confusion as to whether this barring of gaming firms was limited to those companies operating under a CEZA or Aurora gaming license, which, under President Rodrigo Duterte’s Executive Order No. 13, must vacate Metro Manila and operate solely within the CEZA or Aurora licensed economic zones.