State-run Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (Pagcor) reported net income of PHP1.42 billion (US$27.3 million) for the first three months of 2018. The figure was 7.6 percent higher than in the prior-year period.
Total revenue from gaming operations increased by 12.5 percent year-on-year to PHP15.80 billion, compared to PHP14.04 billion in the first quarter of 2017.
The gaming regulator said it paid out a total of PHP8.29 billion in gaming taxes and contributions from that first quarter gaming revenue. The deductions included PHP7.49 billion directly transferred to the Bureau of the Treasury. Pagcor is required by law to pass at least 50 percent of its annual gross earnings to that national government body.
Pagcor reported total income net of taxes of nearly PHP8.45 million in the first quarter, a 9.3-percent increase from a year earlier. But its total expenses increased by 9.7 percent year-on-year to PHP7.03 billion in the first quarter of 2018, according to a financial statement posted on its website on Monday.
Pagcor, an operator of publicly owned casinos as well as the regulator for the country’s entire casino industry, which includes privately developed venues, said regulatory fees collected from licensed casinos reached approximately PHP5.70 billion in the three months to March 31. Income collected from offshore gaming operators stood at nearly PHP1.15 billion in the reporting period, according to Pagcor’s latest financial statement.
Pagcor posted net income of PHP4.95 billion last year, an increase of 10.9 percent from 2016, according to official data. The results were positively affected by an increase of 7.6 percent in revenue from gaming operations.
