Anti-corruption crusaders have mounted a legal challenge of the Philippines’ gaming regulator’s constitutional right to issue online gambling licenses.

Last week, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) issued 35 new ‘offshore’ gambling licenses, the first of the new Philippine Offshore Gambling Operator (POGO) licenses to be issued since PAGCOR announced the new licensing regime in September.

On Wednesday, the Union for National Development and Good Governance-Philippines (UNLAD) asked the Supreme Court to nullify PAGCOR’s POGO program, on the grounds that PAGCOR has no legal basis to oversee online gambling.

UNLAD’s petition states that PAGCOR “committed grave abuse of discretion” in approving the POGO program because it is “not authorized under its legislative franchise, Presidential Decree 1869, either to operate and regulate gambling on the internet catering [to] foreign based players and gamblers that are physically outside the Philippine jurisdiction.”