Pagcor, PH casinos report strong 2017 revenues

Revenue of the government’s gaming regulator and operator rose almost a tenth in 2017 due to improved ties with neighing countries—specifically China —which helped increase arrivals in the country’s various casinos, Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) said.

Speaking to the Inquirer over the weekend, Pagcor chair and CEO Andrea Domingo said the agency recorded a preliminary level of gross gaming revenue of P59.8 billion last year, up 9 percent from last year’s P55 billion.
The figures represented Pagcor’s earnings from casinos it owns and operates, as well as royalties and license fees it got from private gaming firms.

Overall, the Philippine gaming industry’s gross gaming revenue for 2017 reached “over P170 billion,” Domingo said, without providing comparative figures. Pagcor had projected gaming revenues of P160 billion for the local industry in 2017.

Of the state gaming firm’s P59.8 billion in gross revenue, the biggest portion (P22.44 billion) came from Pagcor-operated casinos. It was followed by the P19.27-billion income from licensed casinos’ fees; P9.45 billion from traditional bingo and e-bingo licensees; P5.50 billion from Pagcor’s share from other gaming licensees such as e-games, poker, junket operations, among others and P3.14 billion from offshore gaming operations, Domingo said.