Starting a Poker Club in Dumaguete, Philippines – Project Log
Hi everyone,
I’d like to share a project I’ve been working on and document the process here, mainly to exchange experiences and get feedback from people who’ve been around poker and poker businesses longer than I have.
I’m a German expat, living permanently in the Philippines for several years now. Over time, I noticed something interesting:
Despite a solid poker player base and a growing expat community, there is currently no established, structured poker club in Dumaguete City.
So I decided to explore whether it’s realistically possible to build one – legally, sustainably, and community-driven.
What this project is (and isn’t)
This is not an advertisement and not a game offer.
I’m documenting:
the planning phase
legal and regulatory questions
location scouting
budgeting and risk assessment
community building challenges
mistakes, dead ends, and learnings
Think of it as a real-world case study rather than a pitch.
Rough project outline
Location: Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental (Philippines)
Concept: small to mid-scale poker club with tournaments & limited cash games
Focus: live poker, community, expats + locals
Scale: intentionally conservative at the start
Goal: test viability before scaling
I’m currently in the research & setup phase, not operation.
Why Dumaguete?
For those unfamiliar with the area:
University city with stable population
Growing expat scene
Relatively low operational costs
No direct competition (which is both an opportunity and a risk)
Poker interest exists, but organization and structure don’t – yet.
Questions I’m actively working on
Regulatory boundaries and licensing realities
Cultural differences in poker perception
Sustainability vs. one-off events
Trust-building in a small city
Avoiding the typical “short-lived poker room” trap
If anyone here has experience with:
poker clubs in emerging markets
Southeast Asia poker ecosystems
legal gray zones vs. best practices
or simply lessons learned from failed or successful clubs
I’d genuinely appreciate insights.
Documentation
I’m also documenting parts of the journey on YouTube (purely as a personal project log, no monetized games or offers).
If anyone is interested in following along visually, I can share the link ,but the core discussion is meant to happen here.
Thanks for reading.
Happy to answer questions, and even happier to learn from people who’ve been there before.
3 Replies
First of all, the gambling authority requires a minimum rake of 5% and allows a maximum of 10%. The larger casinos usually charge 10% plus a cap.
In the Philippines, poker is officially played only in the major metropolitan areas, and that is also the framework I am aligning myself with. What happens in home games, I honestly can’t say.
If you ask me how I would personally decide, I would leave that decision to the community. For me, this is a community-driven project, whether it can be realized or not. I would start a poll and let the majority decide, to be completely honest.
The physical poker club is primarily intended to serve as a stage for media content, and that is exactly how I want to operate it. It should mainly cover its costs and generate enough profit to continuously offer a high-quality experience. At least as important to me is what emerges through live streams and the community itself.
I would like to offer a minimum rake if possible, but whether that is realistically achievable will have to be seen. My goal is also to promote poker philosophy here and to present people who are passionate about the game in a more positive light than the one it has often had in the past.
Personally, I would never play high stakes.
Just as a side note on why the media aspect is so important to me:
The Philippines are one of the top three to four countries worldwide when it comes to media consumption. Around 80% of the population — nearly 100 million people — are active media users.
Statistically, about 25% of them are interested in gambling. Out of those roughly 25 million people, around 2 to 4 million can be considered poker enthusiasts. This alone represents a significant target audience from a purely media-market perspective. With solid marketing, advertising on platforms, forums, and similar channels, I believe it is absolutely possible to build a strong community around this project.
The people from abroad with whom I primarily want to launch this project — and the impact they could have — are not even included in this estimation.
If we apply this calculation strictly to the physical poker club in Dumaguete, we could potentially reach up to 5,000 people, assuming that about 5% of the internet-affine population is interested in poker content or playing poker in the area. On top of that, there is the unique selling point of being the only licensed poker club in a region with more than one million inhabitants. From a pure potential standpoint, that should already be sufficient.
In the end, it comes down to the concept and its execution, how strongly the community stands behind it, and how each person supports it within their own means. That is exactly why the community aspect is so important to me — and also why I don’t want them to participate in this project without receiving anything in return.
Time will tell. From February onward, I will start promoting the project, supply the YouTube channel with content, and see how it develops. At the same time, I am writing emails to potential sponsors and presenting the project on pitch platforms — although I would rather avoid relying on a single main sponsor. If you thing my thoughts a wrong let me know it seems you know the area maybe better than me !
