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Philippines – Philippines rebounds in 2022 with 68 per cent increase in gaming income

By - 1 February 2023

Gaming has rebounded in the Philippines with PAGCOR, the country’s gaming regulator confirming a 68 per cent jump in income to US$1bn in 2022.

This was 2.4 per cent more than the approved budget for the year by the Department of Budget and Management.

Fourth quarter income was up by 9.3 per cent from the third quarter, reaching US$291m with net profit up 2,000 per cent at US$82m.

PAGCOR Chairman and CEO Alejandro Tengco said: “Looking at PAGCOR’s upward revenue trend since the first quarter of 2022 up to the end of the year, as well as the recovery path of other gaming hubs in Asia like Singapore and Macau, we are confident that the Philippine gaming sector will be able to fully recover, or even surpass its pre-pandemic earnings soon.

“Since the lockdowns were eased in the country last year and gaming venues reopened, customer confidence slowly returned and the attendance in our owned casinos slowly improved. Our licensed casinos likewise recorded a major revenue growth.”

The operator/regulator said recently that it would speed up its review into Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs) who didn’t have an operating licence and hadn’t paid taxes.

PAGCOR stated: “With the assumption of the new leadership of PAGCOR, the contract of Global ComRCI was put under review last September 2022. We assure the senators that the review will soon be finished and released at the proper time.”

The increase in revenue saw PAGCOR able to pay a total of P256.38m in remittances to the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC).

Said amount represents PAGCOR’s mandated contributions to the government sports body for the months of November (P124.45 million) and December (P131.93m) last year.

PAGCOR Chairman and CEO Alejandro Tengco personally handed the state-run gaming firm’s remittances to newly-appointed PSC Chairman Richard Bachmann in a simple turnover ceremony held at the PAGCOR Executive Office in Malate, Manila.

“With the amount that we remitted, we hope to contribute significantly to the training of our national athletes for various international competitions and to the further development of Philippine sports. Our future remittances will be bigger as our operations are slowly easing back to normalcy,” Tengco said.

Bachmann, on the other hand, expressed extreme gratitude to the state-run gaming firm for its latest remittances to the PSC, saying they would be very beneficial especially to the players representing the country in the Cambodia SEAG.

“This is definitely a big help to us as there are already a lot of requests coming from the NSAs (National Sports Associations) for equipment that they need for the training of their athletes for the coming SEA Games. Wala na tayong problema sa pondo pagdating dito,” Bachmann noted.

Besides remitting its mandated shares to PSC, PAGCOR also hands cash grants to athletes and coaches who win in international competitions under the National Athletes and Coaches Benefits and Incentives Act.

The agency played a vital role in the successful staging of the 30th SEAG in 2019 by donating P842.50 million to the PSC for the rehabilitation of major sports facilities utilized for the Games. Among these sports facilities were the Rizal Memorial Coliseum and Ninoy Aquino Stadium inside the historic Rizal Memorial Sports Complex in Malate, Manila and the Philsports Complex Multipurpose Arena in Pasig City.

The state-run gaming firm also made financial contribution to the Philippine Southeast Asian Games Organizing Committee for the hosting of the biennial meet.

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