The state-run Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (Pagcor) reported net income of PHP2.4 billion (US$53 million) for the first six months of 2015, up by 81.1 percent from the prior-year period. Pagcor said it was 40.1 percent ahead of its own PHP1.7 billion target for net income in the six-month period.
Pagcor’s net income rose as the country’s gaming revenue jumped in the period, mainly in the second quarter. Income from gaming operations stood at PHP21.8 billion in the first six months of 2015, up 46.4 percent from a year earlier. In the three months to June 30, income from gaming operations reached PHP13.4 billion, a 60 percent sequential improvement compared to the first quarter.
Total revenue for the first half of 2015 rose 24.2 percent year-on-year to PHP24.8 billion, Pagcor reported. For the second quarter alone, total revenue was PHP14.6 billion, up 43 percent from PHP10.2 billion in the first three months of the year.
The second quarter of 2015 was the first full quarter of operations of the private-sector City of Dreams Manila, following the official opening on February 2. Melco Crown (Philippines) Resorts Corp, a unit of Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd, manages the casino resort.
In a recent interview, Pagcor’s chairman Cristino Naguiat said there is a “good chance” that casino gross gaming revenue in the Philippines could reach US$3 billion in 2015, up by 20 percent from the previous year.
In its latest report, Pagcor said that total operating expenses for the first six months of 2015 fell 7.5 percent year-on-year to PHP6.8 billion.
The state-run company, an operator of publicly-owned casinos as well as the regulator for the country’s entire casino industry, contributed a total of PHP15.6 billion to state funds in the first half of the year. That figure included PHP10.3 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 the government’s treasury bureau.
Pagcor posted net income of PHP3.25 billion in 2014, an increase of 5.1 percent from 2013, according to official data.
