Vincente Chua Reyes, Jr.
University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Austrialia
Keywords: PAGCOR, PCSO, casinos, gaming industry, governance, corruption, complex networks, the Philippines
DOI: 10.5509/2017904725
This article analyzes the unique trajectory of the Philippine gaming industry, with a particular focus on the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) and the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO). It aims to provide empirical insight on how state and non-state actors take part in the growing gaming industry in the Philippines in a neoliberal context. This article first addresses the dominant patron-client paradigms, and finds them insufficient to provide an explanation to both the gaming development in the country and the regulatory mechanisms behind this industry. By providing a description of how PAGCOR and the PCSO circumvent dysfunctional bureaucracy and assuage criticism against systemic corruption, this article suggests that a closer look at the complex networks between stakeholders in both the public and private sectors will provide an alternative way of understanding Philippine politics. The strategic decision by the weak Philippine state to invest heavily in the gaming industry presents a clear example of how these complex networks operate. The gaming regulatory policy pragmatically employs current Philippine laws to ensure maximum profit for the state. This article concludes that a critical examination of the gaming industry is necessary, spanning both the legal and illegal types and the social relations of confidence and suspicion between public and private stakeholders.
菲律宾娱乐及博彩公司及娱乐城:菲律宾的复杂网络和博彩业发展
关键词:菲律宾娱乐及博彩公司,赌场,治理,腐败,复杂网络,菲律宾
本文分析了菲律宾博彩产业独特的发展路径,特别关注了菲律宾娱乐及博彩公司(PAGCOR)及娱乐城在马尼拉的的发展。本文旨在对新自由主义语境下国家及非国家行动者如何参与菲律宾增长中的博彩产业提供经验性的洞见。本文首先对主导的恩庇-侍从范式进行了反思,因为该模式无论对于菲律宾博彩业的发展还是产业背后的规管机制都不能提供充分的解释。 通过描述菲律宾娱乐及博彩公司及娱乐城项目如何规避那些常常削弱国家的政治和经济治理的功能失常的官僚机构, 本文提出对于公共和私人部门的利益相关人之间的复杂网络进行切近的考察会对理解菲律宾政治提供一个替代性的路径。弱势的菲律宾国家着力投资博彩业的战略决定提供了一个这些复杂网络是怎样运作的清晰范例。博彩业的规管政策很实际地利用现有的菲律宾法律来保证国家最大限度地获利。本文结论认为对菲律宾合法和非法类型的博彩产业,以及公共和私人部门的利益相关者之间兼具信任与怀疑的社会关系的批判性考察具有相当的分析性的启示作用。
Translated from English by Li Guo
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