PH gaming industry posts record-breaking 2023 take

MANILA  —The local gaming industry posted a record revenue haul in 2023 that surpassed both prepandemic levels and projections for last year, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) reported on Monday.

In a statement, Pagcor, the country’s gaming regulator, said the Philippines’ gross gaming revenue (GGR) amounted to P285.27 billion in 2023, up 33.1 percent from the preceding year’s P214.33 billion.

The 2023 haul beat the previous record of P256.49 billion posted in 2019, or before the pandemic shut down casinos and sank the local gaming industry’s GGR to an all-time low of P98.79 billion in 2020.

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At the same time, last year’s GGR smashed Pagcor’s upgraded forecast of P272.74 billion revenues in 2023.

For Pagcor Chair and CEO Alejando Tengco, last year’s record-breaking GGR put the local gaming industry on track to rake in higher revenues in 2024, especially with the scheduled opening of new integrated resorts this year.

Pagcor is targeting GGR of P336.38 billion this year.

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“Our 2023 results exceeded even our most optimistic projections, and it proves beyond doubt that the Philippine gaming industry has fully recovered and is now poised for sustained growth in the medium- to long-term,” Tengco said.

Breaking down the gaming regulator’s report, integrated resorts, which typically contribute the largest to the industry’s revenues annually, reported a GGR of P207.48 billion in 2023.

The electronic games sector got the second largest slice of the industry’s revenue pie with P58.16 billion, followed by Pagcor-operated casinos under the “Casino Filipino” brand, which pitched in P19.62 billion to last year’s haul. —Ian Nicolas P. Cigaral INQ