Pagcor chief bullish on growth prospects

LONDON – The Philippine gaming industry will continue to grow as demand from both high rollers and mass market remains strong despite hiccups encountered last year such as the shooting incident at the Resorts World Manila last year, the country’s chief gaming regulator said.

Gross gaming revenues are expected to increase to P186 billion this year from P172 billion in 2017, Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR) chair and CEO Andrea Domingo told reporters on the sidelines of the 2018 International Casino Exhibition.

Domingo said the industry surpassed last year’s target of P160 billion.

“We reached P172 billion GGR (in 2017),” she said.

Domingo said the Resorts World incident did not have any impact on the industry.

“What we noticed is that players don’t stop. They just move to another place so from Resorts World, they moved to Solaire (Resort & Casino) and to City of Dreams,” Domingo said.

Data from PAGCOR showed its net income rose 10.9 percent to P4.95 billion in 2017.

PAGCOR operates casinos and also regulates the entire gaming industry, which has both local and foreign players.

Regulatory fees collected from licensed casinos went up nearly 2.3 percent to P19.24 billion.

Domingo said gross gaming revenues could hit P200 billion in the near future.

She said there are already a lot of gaming projects in the pipeline despite the moratorium imposed by President Duterte on new casinos.

Duterte issued the directive on Jan. 11 to freeze the processing of new casino licenses, citing the proliferation of new land-based casinos outside the 100-hectare Entertainment City in Parañaque.