Optimism leads to spike in Pagcor’s Jan. revenue

An improving “gaming mix” and an intensified marketing campaign pushed up the revenue of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) in the first month of the year, the state-run casino regulator and operator said Tuesday.

In a statement, Pagcor said its gross revenues for January 2012 hit P3.36 billion—a P600-million hike over the P2.76 billion in sales reported in the same period the previous year.

Pagcor chairman and CEO Cristino Naguiat Jr. said this increase was brought about by the “buoyant” performance of the agency’s gaming operations.

“Our casinos, arcades and in-house bingo operations yielded a P505-million, or 26 percent, income growth compared to the same month last year,” he said. “We also surpassed the January 2012 income target of P2.38 billion … by 3.07 percent.”

Apart from sourcing revenue from its own gaming operations, Pagcor also generated P907 million from other sources, such as its income share from the operations of licensed casinos, e-games, poker and commercial bingo.

“Our January 2012 share from these other sources was 11.77 percent better than the share Pagcor received in January 2011,” he said.

The Pagcor chief said his agency is targeting to generate a little over P45 billion in revenue this year, representing a 22-percent rise from last year’s record high of P36.65 billion.

“We are optimistic that we are going to hit this target given the optimism prevailing not only in the Philippine gaming market but in the Asian gaming industry as well,” he said.