Official languages: Filipino, English
Population: 90,500,000
Currency: Philippine Peso (PHP)

Current Exchange Rate
1 EUR = 68.5504 PHP
1 GBP = 73.2226 PHP
1 USD = 46.3053 PHP

Poker in Philippines
Poker is easy to find in Philippines. All forms of gambling are popular in the country, but poker is easily one of the top casino-style games. In addition to the country's 20 major casinos, there are a few dozen dedicated poker halls found throughout Philippines. Both the casinos and the poker halls are run by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR). PAGCOR is government owned and controlled, and holds a monopoly over most gambling in Philippines.

A few major poker tournaments come through the area each year. The biggest is the Asia Pacific Poker Tour run by PokerStars. In 2009 it will take place at the Hyatt Hotel and Casino in Manila, and the event is expected to draw players from around the world. Other major poker events in the Philippines are the Filipino Poker Tour, the PanAsia Poker Tour in Manila and the World Celebrity Poker Tournament in Cebu.

Online Poker in Philippines
Online poker is quickly growing more and more popular in Philippines. While there is a special region of the country called the Cagayan Freeport which hosts over 40 international gambling websites, Filipinos cannot play at them. Instead, the only legal Filipino online poker site is the internet gaming site run by PAGCOR.

Filipino poker players looking for more variety in playing online poker use international poker websites hosted in other countries. The government naturally does not like this, because they have control over the only legal online poker site in the Philippines. But fortunately for Filipino poker fans, these international sites are hosted in countries where the Filipino government has no jurisdiction, so other than trying to force ISPs to block those sites, the government can't do much to prevent players from using them.