Pagcor’s H1 revenues surged as casino patrons returned

MANILA  -Revenues of the Philippines’ casino regulator-cum-operator surged by 35.6 percent to reach P36.2 billion in the first half of 2023 from P26.7 billion a year ago, and is on track to return to prepandemic levels by yearend as betting activities continue unhampered by lockdowns and mobility restrictions.

Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) said in a statement that its top line for the first half was only P2.59 billion or 6.7 percent shy of the full-year revenue of P38.8 billion in 2019.

“As economic activities reach prepandemic levels, we are optimistic that we can sustain the gaming industry’s growth momentum as we fortify our regulatory policies to attract more investors in the Philippines,” Pagcor chair and chief executive Alejandro Tengco said.

The bulk of Pagcor’s revenues continued to come from its own gaming operations as well as regulatory fees from licensees, which amounted to P34.1 billion for the January-June period.

This was a jump of 38 percent from the P24.72 billion earnings in the same period of 2022.

This was driven by total industry gross gaming revenue in the first semester, which ballooned by 48.7 percent to P136.4 billion from P91.7 billion.

“With the fine tuning of our regulatory policies, we believe that the Philippines will become a more attractive gaming and entertainment hub both for investors and guests,” Tengco said.

Higher remittances

With surging revenues, Tengco said Pagcor’s remittances to the national coffers also similarly swelled by 48.5 percent from P22.6 billion in the first half of this year from P15.2 billion previously.

Tengco said that unlike other state-run businesses, Pagcor does not depend on the national budget or subsidies for funds.

“It is in fact the other way around as Pagcor remits close to 70 percent of its revenues to the government in the form of direct remittances to the national coffers and through its other mandated contributions,” he said.

More than half or P16.2 billion of Pagcor’s remittances went to the Bureau of the Treasury, of which P8 billion is intended to fund universal healthcare benefits through the Philippine Health Insurance Corp.

Also, part of Pagcor revenues are earmarked for the other programs including P810.47 million remitted to the Philippine Sports Commission, and P225.9 million given to cities that host branches of Pagcor’s Casino Filipino.

Gaming industry

Pagcor expects industrywide revenues to reach P244.8 billion this year, which is P30.5 billion higher than the P214.3 billion recorded last year.

Of the aggregate revenues, Pagcor’s alone is penciled in at P68.5 billion or 24 percent higher than the P50.1 billion that the agency earned from its casinos in 2022.

Earlier, Tengco said that since the lockdowns were eased in the country late last year and gaming venues reopened, customer confidence slowly returned and customer traffic in Pagcor-owned casinos improved.

He said that in order to achieve this year’s revenue targets, Pagcor will make efforts to improve both its regulatory functions as well as its own business operations.

READ: Poe: ‘High time’ for Pagcor to stick to regulating gaming industry