The Philippine casino regulator, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (Pagcor), saw its 2019 net income dip by 71.4 percent year-on-year to PHP9.01 billion (US$177.2 million), according to data released on Thursday.
The decline for the 12 months to December 31 was on gross income from gaming operations that rose by 11.7 percent, to PHP75.76 billion.
Pagcor directly operates a suite of state-run casinos and oversees a number of private-sector ones. Its own brand of casinos is called “Casino Filipino”.
Cash flows from operating activities included PHP24.70 billion in income from casino customers, and PHP53.28 billion from – respectively – junket operators, non-casino customers and “other” income.
Pagcor said regulatory fees collected from licensed casinos – included in its gaming operations revenue – reached approximately PHP28.68 billion in full-year 2019, up 18.9 percent from the prior-year period
Out of its 2019 gross income, Pagcor had to deduct just over PHP39.77 billion. Of that, nearly PHP35.93 billion was for the national government’s 50 percent share; nearly PHP3.79 billion for a 5-percent franchise tax; and PHP60 million to the Dangerous Drugs Board.
The regulator said that if non-regular income in 2018 – amounting to PHP37.72 billion and related to a land sale to Philippine casino operator Bloomberry Resorts Corp – had been excluded, then the 2019 “other income” column would have posted growth of 11.2 percent.
Pagcor’s total expenses for the period fell by 17.3 percent, to PHP30.48 billion. That tally included a 31.7 percent decrease – to PHP13.62 billion – in subsidies payable to national government agencies or “NGAs” under the heading “corporate social responsibility projects”.
