The gambling industry in the Philippines has been going through a lot of development through the last twelve months and the beginning of this month brought even more new development. Now that 2017 is gone it is time for evaluation of the performance in the gaming field and this is when the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp comes with valuable data. It has been announced that the gross gambling revenue for the year 2017 has reached PHP60 billion (US$1.19 billion). However, this amount does not come very close to the previously forecasted gross gambling revenue amounting PHP61 billion.
PAGCOR Chairman Andrea Domingo announced the figure and added the good news that this amount marks a 9-percent surge in comparison to the performance of the gambling field in 2016. It could be recalled that back in November 2017 the gambling regulator for the region forecasted that the revenues will reach the figure of PHP61 billion. In other words, this would have amounted to some 11-percent increase, compared to the PHP55 billion which the industry had managed to amass for 2016. Even though the reality did not live up to the high expectations of the casino regulator, it is a positive progress upwards.
According to the data listed in the statement, a big part of the revenue was amassed by casino locations which operate under the management of PAGCOR. They have collected about PHP22.44 billion over the span of the last twelve months. As for the rest of the entities in the industry, as much as PHP19.27 billion came from licensed casinos’ fees. PHP9.45 billion was collected by traditional bingo and e-Bingo licensees, PHP5.50 billion came from Pagcor’s share from other gaming licensees such as e-Games, poker, junket operations, while the income from offshore gaming operations amounted to PHP3.14 billion.
Funding Plans in the Philippines
A project which has been discussed for quite some time now is the proposed sale of casino venues which have been previously owned by PAGCOR. There is a total of 46 owned by the government gambling venues in the Philippines which belong to the regulator. The move was proposed by President Rodrigo Duterte, who is striving to turn the agency into a gambling regulator only, without additional responsibilities.
It was also announced that the initial 17 gambling locations are scheduled to be sold within the following few months. At the moment one of the leading purchasers is Caesars Entertainment, which is aiming to branch out and explore the Asian gambling market. The beginning of this year brought the news that the operators in the field claim that the introduction of an entrance fee applied to the operating gambling facilities might positively impact gambling addiction rates in the country.
This move has the potential to discourage casino players with low income from participating in casino activities, while at the same time fueling the local economy. Among of the projects which could benefit from the additional financial support is the Build Build Build program, aiming to roll out 75 new gaming projects in the foreseeable future.
