LARO77 Junket Explained: Operators, Players and Agents
A junket is a gaming-room arrangement: a registered promoter brings foreign-passport players to a licensed casino's junket tables under a written agreement, and the casino stays answerable to PAGCOR for it.
Key facts and contents
- LARO77 Anti Money Laundering Rules at a Casino Cashier
- Republic Act No. 10927 added casinos, including internet casinos, to the anti money laundering law as covered persons.
- LARO77 eGames and PAGCOR's Electronic Gaming Categories
- PAGCOR does not define eGames as one product.
- LARO77 GLI Explained
- GLI is Gaming Laboratories International, an independent testing laboratory.
- LARO77 Know Your Customer Checks, Step by Step
- A know your customer check is the step where a regulated business establishes your true identity from an official ID.
- LARO77 NBI Cybercrime
- Save screenshots with the address bar, your wallet's reference numbers, dates, amounts and chat messages, report to GCash or Maya in the wallet's own help, then take the case to the NBI through nbi.gov.ph.
- LARO77 Phishing Site
- A phishing site is a page built by a fraudster to look like the real one so you type your password into it.
- LARO77 Proof of Address
- The saved GCash, Maya and Bangko Sentral texts list valid IDs, not a separate proof-of-address list.
A junket is a room-based arrangement, and the word gets stretched online until it means any person who says they can “bring you in”. This page puts PAGCOR’s own wording for a junket next to a plain online referral, so you can tell them apart before you trust a stranger’s offer.
It sits inside the trusted online casino checklist and reads PAGCOR’s Casino Regulatory Manual for Licensed Land-Based Casinos, Rev. No. 0, effective 13 August 2025. This site is 21+.
What a junket is in PAGCOR’s casino manual
PAGCOR’s manual gives each junket term its own definition. Read together, they describe a promoter who brings foreign-passport guests to private gaming areas of a licensed casino under a written agreement. These are the manual’s own words.
| Term in the manual | PAGCOR’s wording |
|---|---|
| Junket Agreement | “a contract or other arrangement that relates to the conduct of a junket” |
| Junket Operation | “table game operations of specific gaming areas where junket players engage in casino gaming” |
| Junket Player | “an individual who possesses a foreign passport and invited to play in junket rooms/areas in the casino” |
| Junket Representative/Agent | “an individual who is authorized to act on behalf of the junket operator/promoter to organize, promote or conduct a junket operation” |
| Junket Runner | “an individual who is employed by a junket operator/promoter to aid in the conduct of the junket and whose primary task is to assist junket players during the course of play” |
Regulation 19 opens by saying the licensed casino “is authorized to conduct in-house junket operations or enter into agreements with third-party junket operators”. The casino is the party that holds the licence, so every junket sits under it.
Junket operator: who may run one
The manual’s definition of a junket operator is short and specific. It is “a corporation incorporated in the Philippines, Partnership, One Person Corporation, or otherwise registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of the Philippines and is registered by PAGCOR to conduct Junket Operations off-site or within the host casino”. Regulation 19 then lists what the casino must do before and while a third party operates for it.
- The casino ensures the operator is “duly organized and existing under the laws of the Philippines” and “appropriately registered or authorized” under Philippine rules.
- The casino notifies PAGCOR of each third-party operator with the Third-Party Junket Operators Notification Form (Form 34), with a copy of the junket agreement attached.
- Each month the casino sends PAGCOR a report listing the names of all its third-party junket operators.
- The casino keeps a record of every operator: registration papers, the junket agreements, a list of shareholders, directors and key officers with passport copies, and an address in the Philippines.
- The casino enters no junket agreement with anyone listed in the National Database of Restricted Persons.
- Operators and junket runners wear identification issued by the casino at all times on the premises.
Runners are covered in Part II of Regulation 19. The manual says all junket runners “must have obtained clearance certificates from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) prior to employment”.
What the casino stays responsible for
The junket does not move the casino’s duties onto the promoter. Regulation 19 says the casino “shall be held jointly and severally liable, alongside affiliated junket operators” for the operators’ compliance with the anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorism-financing rules. It also lists what the casino has to see and stop.
- Visibility over “all junket-related financial activities in the cage/s and junket rooms or areas”, with every transaction documented and suspicious activity reported at once.
- A bar on operators and their agents accepting funds “for safekeeping, remittance, or storage purposes”, or facilitating “withdrawals not directly linked to verifiable gaming activities”.
- Funds that junket players bring in “must be used solely for the purpose of gaming and gaming-related transactions”.
- A ban on “unauthorized or unlicensed software, programs, or online platforms” used by operators or their clients for financial activity inside the casino premises.
- Notice to PAGCOR in writing within seven (7) days after a junket agreement ends.
When an operator fails, the manual’s discipline falls on the casino: Section 7 defines a disciplinary action as “the issuance by PAGCOR of a letter of censure to the Licensee”.
Junket players and tables: the figures in the manual
The numbers below are the manual’s. They show how tightly a junket is fenced compared with open play.
| Item | What Regulation 19 and the manual say |
|---|---|
| Who may play | Only players holding valid foreign passports at designated junket tables |
| Player database | The casino keeps a Junket Player Database; each record holds six passport items, from full name to a scanned photo page |
| Enlistment | A junket player is enlisted on arrival; if not practicable, the casino has five (5) days |
| Share of tables | Junket tables are capped at max 25% of total gaming tables |
| Video streaming | Allowed for junket tables only to foreign IP addresses enlisted with the casino |
The manual’s table-mix page sends online operations elsewhere. Beside the land-based cap it prints “Online” with a pointer to the Regulatory Framework for the Accreditation of Service Providers and Processing of System-Related Requests.
How the anti-money-laundering rules treat a junket
The junket duties above come from PAGCOR’s manual, not from the statute. Republic Act No. 10927, as saved from lawphil.net, designates casinos as covered persons and sets a covered transaction at “a single casino transaction involving an amount in excess of Five million pesos (₱5,000,000.00) or its equivalent in any other currency”. The word junket does not appear in that Act or its implementing rules, so the joint liability, the fund restrictions and the player database are PAGCOR’s own layer on top.
In practice the casino, not the promoter, answers to the regulator for what happens in a junket room. The wider picture is on the anti-money-laundering rules for casinos page.
Junket or online agent: a side-by-side table
Online, “agent” usually means a referral arrangement: a person recruits players and takes a share of what they play. The LARO77 lobby’s Promosyon list, read on 11 October 2026, includes agent and invite programmes as a kind of entry. This site prints no terms for them, so read any programme’s rules inside the lobby before you act on a recruiter’s message.
| Point | Junket (PAGCOR manual, land-based) | Online agent (referral arrangement) |
|---|---|---|
| Setting | Private rooms of a licensed casino | A chat, a link or a social post |
| Who may take part | Foreign-passport players, enlisted in a database | Anyone the recruiter can reach |
| Regulated link | Written agreement with the casino, notified to PAGCOR on Form 34 | A referral link; Regulation 19 does not describe it |
| Who answers to PAGCOR | The casino, jointly with the operator | Not set by Regulation 19 |
| Money | Operators may not take funds for safekeeping or remittance | Never hand a recruiter funds; pay only through the screens you log in to |
| Paperwork | Passport scanned by the casino | Share nothing outside your logged-in account |
When a stranger offers you a junket online
An unsolicited message that calls itself a junket is the case to be careful with. Two quick checks cover most of it.
A stranger says they run a junket and asks you to send money first.
The manual says junket operators and their agents do not accept funds for safekeeping, remittance, or storage purposes. Send nothing, keep the chat as evidence, and follow the steps on reporting a scam to the NBI Cybercrime Division.
They ask for a photo of your passport or a utility bill in a chat.
In the manual the casino captures passport details itself, by scanner, into its own database. Send documents only inside a logged-in account, and read which proof of address a wallet lists before you upload anything.
FAQ
What is a junket in a Philippine casino?
PAGCOR's Casino Regulatory Manual defines a Junket Operation as table game operations of specific gaming areas where junket players engage in casino gaming. The promoter works under a junket agreement with a licensed casino, in rooms the casino controls.
Who is allowed to play at a junket table?
Only junket players. The manual defines a Junket Player as an individual who possesses a foreign passport and is invited to play in junket rooms or areas, and it says only players holding valid foreign passports are eligible at designated junket tables.
Is a junket operator the same as an online casino agent?
No. A junket operator is a registered promoter inside a land-based casino's rules. An online agent is a referral arrangement, a person who recruits players for a share of their play, and Regulation 19 does not describe it.
Can a junket operator hold my money for me?
PAGCOR's manual says the casino must ensure that junket operators and their agents do not accept funds for safekeeping, remittance, or storage purposes. Anyone offering to hold your funds for a junket is outside that rule.