Privatization of 17 Pagcor operated casinos under study by DOF

The Department of Finance (DOF) wants to determine by the end of the year the method by which it will privatize an initial list of 17 government-operated casinos in the country.

In an interview, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez said the government is studying the privatization of 17 purely-operated casinos by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor).

“We are working on the Pagcor deal. The first item is those casinos being operated directly by Pagcor. There are about 17 (casinos),” Dominguez said.

“We want to complete all the studies by the end of the year. And then we’ll figure out the method of privatization,” he said.

President Duterte had ordered Pagcor to privatize its casinos to raise funds for the government.

Pagcor chairman Andrea Domingo had earlier said the regulator is open to the move to privatize its casinos.

Dominguez, for his part, said he is pushing for the privatization so Pagcor could focus on its regulatory functions and remove any conflict of interest.

Pagcor currently operates 46 casino properties in the Philippines. It is the government’s third largest revenue collecting agency, next to the Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Bureau of Customs.

As a government-owned and controlled corporation, it is required to remit at least half of its net profit to the national government pursuant to Republic Act 7656 or the GOCC Dividend Law.

Based on its first quarter income statement, the state corporation paid P6.47 billion to the Bureau of the Treasury, while it also remitted P1.55 billion to the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).