The Philippine gaming regulator said that total 2019 gross gaming revenues (GGR) for all casinos in the country rose 15.4 percent to nearly PHP216.39 billion (US$4.28 billion), from PHP187.54 billion in the prior year. Casino GGR produced by the private-sector casinos in Entertainment City in Manila accounted for 76.4 percent of the overall market, showed the official data.
For the fourth quarter, such GGR rose 12.9 percent to PHP56.23 billion, from nearly PHP49.80 billion in the same quarter of 2018, said the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (Pagcor).
The regulator said separately that in the country’s casinos as a whole, there was in 2019 a total of 471 exclusions of persons – either due to self-exclusion, requests by a family or family member, or licensee-action. That compared with 448 exclusions in 2018.
Full-year 2019 GGR produced by the private-sector casinos in Entertainment City in Manila, the Philippine capital, stood at PHP165.28 billion, up 16.9 percent on the nearly PHP141.44 billion achieved in 2018.
Fourth-quarter GGR for Entertainment City rose 11.6 percent year-on-year, to nearly PHP42.75 billion, from PHP38.32 billion in the final three months of 2018.
But final-quarter 2019 junket GGR at private-sector venues was PHP11.32 billion, 17.0 percent down on the PHP13.64 billion in the year-earlier quarter.
In full-year 2019, non-junket GGR – including mass-market and VIP gaming tables – for all private-sector licensed casinos in the country was PHP74.51 billion, up 15.9 percent on the nearly PHP64.28 billion achieved in 2018. The segment’s fourth-quarter GGR in such venues was PHP21.66 billion, up 36.9 percent on the PHP15.82 billion a year earlier
Full-year junket GGR at such venues was up 18.8 percent to PHP50.99 billion, from PHP42.91 billion in 2018.
The full-year 2019 GGR from electronic gaming machines at private-sector Philippine casinos was PHP53.96 billion, from PHP44.46 billion in 2018, an increase of 21.4 percent.
Fourth-quarter 2019 GGR from electronic games was just under PHP14.15 billion, 22.5 percent up on the PHP11.55 billion achieved in the ultimate quarter of 2018.
