State-run Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (Pagcor), a casino operator and a regulator of private-sector venues, saw its net income leap to approximately PHP2.16 billion (US$38.8 million) for the first six months of 2022. It compared with net income of just under PHP79.1 million in the prior-year period.
The improvement coincided with an easing from March 1 of Covid-19 restrictions in Metro Manila, home to the key commercial-casino market known as Entertainment City.
At that time, a number of casino operators in Entertainment City said they were again operating at full capacity following two years of disruptions.
Pagcor’s first-half 2022 income from gaming operations was PHP24.72 billion, up 67.3 percent year-on-year. Total income for the period was PHP26.70 billion, an increase of 68.1 percent from a year earlier.
Pagcor’s total expenses increased by 62.5 percent year-on-year to PHP10.54 billion in the first six months of 2022, according to a financial statement posted on its website on Thursday.
The gaming regulator said it additionally paid out a total of PHP14.00-billion in a combination of taxes and contributions in the first half. Among other payments, Pagcor is required by law to pass at least 50 percent of its gross earnings to the national government.
Several casino industry veterans recently told GGRAsia that the introduction by Andrea Domingo, Pagcor’s chairman and chief executive, of domestic online gaming to the land-based casino product offer – and her overall ability to balance pandemic countermeasures with maintenance of the Philippine casino industry’s revenues – would be seen as a key achievement of her time in office.
