The Philippine gambling sector could see gross gaming revenue (GGR) decline by as much as 19 percent this year, amid the impact of tighter online-gaming payment restrictions, and economic pressures linked to the conflict in the Middle East, according to the head of the country’s gaming regulator.
Alejandro Tengco (pictured), chairman and chief executive of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (Pagcor), said he expected industry-wide GGR to reach between PHP320 billion (US$5.19 billion) and PHP350 billion this year, compared with PHP396.14 billion recorded in 2025.
“Personally, I believe that it will be a lower GGR compared to 2025. Probably we are looking at maybe PHP320 billion to PHP350 billion,” Mr Tengco told reporters on the sidelines of the SiGMA Asia Summit 2026 in Manila, per a report from the Business World media outlet.
The forecast would imply a year-on-year decline of between 11.6 percent and 19.2 percent.
Mr Tengco cited two main factors behind the weaker outlook. One was the directive requiring the delinking of online gambling platforms from electronic wallets (e-wallets) and a slight decline in the number of new players.
The move has weighed on the country’s electronic gaming segment, which saw GGR fall 22.4 percent year-on-year to PHP39.9 billion in the first quarter.
“But I think it is primarily because of the Middle East crisis,” Mr Tengco said, referring to he sector’s moderating performance. He noted that lower-middle-income consumers, previously a key source of demand for online gaming products, were facing pressure from rising living costs and were prioritising essential spending.
The industry’s softer momentum was already evident in the opening three months of 2026. Philippine gaming GGR fell 15.9 percent year-on-year to PHP87.6 billion in the first quarter, per official data.
Mr Tengco said online gaming had previously overtaken land-based casinos as the largest revenue contributor, but that trend had reversed following the recent economic pressures.
Business World cited Ser Percival Peña-Reyes, senior research fellow at the Ateneo Center for Economic Research and Development, as saying that elevated inflation, weaker consumer confidence and slower economic growth were likely to keep gaming revenues in the Philippines subdued in the near term.
“The electronic gaming segment, which was previously the main growth driver, contracted considerably in the first quarter, indicating that even digitally driven demand is becoming sensitive to macroeconomic stress,” he said.
