Casinos at Philippine “integrated resorts” generated PHP93.36 billion (US$1.65 billion) in gross gaming revenue (GGR) in the first half of this year, said on Thursday Alejandro Tengco (pictured), chairman and chief executive of the country’s casino regulator, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor).
That segment’s GGR accounted for about 43 percent of the “local gaming industry’s” aggregate GGR of PHP215 billion during the period, he added in a statement put out by the regulator.
Mr Tengco gave the figures in an address to the Philippine Hotel Connect 2025 event held at one of the country’s integrated resorts – Newport World Resorts – in the capital Manila.
According to the statement he said: “Of the PHP93.36 billion generated by the integrated resort casinos, PHP16 billion was paid to Pagcor as licence fees, ensuring funding for government social services and driving the country’s economic growth.”
The Pagcor chairman and CEO also spoke of the financial support operators of integrated resort casinos provide to the country’s public health, education and military sectors, through their “cultural foundations”.
“Their contributions are concrete examples of how tourism, hospitality, and gaming – when aligned and responsibly managed – become a catalyst for national resilience and progress,” said Mr Tengco.
The Philippines’ licensed commercial-sector casinos had generated revenue of PHP49.28 billion in the first-quarter of this year, accounting for 47.3 percent of the entire gaming sector’s GGR. Commercial-sector casino GGR in that period was down 0.9 percent from a year ago, according to Pagcor’s data.
