Pagcor’s income up 18pct on higher gaming revenue

Feb 02, 2017 Newsdesk Latest News, Philippines, Top of the deck  

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State-run Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (Pagcor) on Tuesday reported net income of PHP4.46 billion (US$89.5 million) for 2016, up 18.1 percent from full-year 2015.

Revenue from gaming operations increased by 22.9 percent from the previous year, to PHP53.31 billion in 2016, according to Pagcor’s financial statement posted on its website.

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 rose 66.6 percent year-on-year to PHP18.81 billion in 2016.

Nationally the Philippines casino industry reported gross gaming revenue of PHP99.77 billion for the first nine months of 2016, an increase of 19.8 percent in year-on-year terms, showed official data published in November.

Pagcor’s total expenses – including operating expenses and contributions to the government – amounted to PHP50.57 billion last year, up by 12.3 percent compared to PHP45.05 billion in 2015, showed Pagcor’s unaudited results.

Contributions to different government departments combined with tax payments reached an aggregate of PHP27.99 billion in 2016, Pacgor said. That included PHP25.26 billion directly transferred to the Bureau of the Treasury. Pagcor is required by law to forfeit at least 50 percent of its annual gross earnings to the government’s treasury bureau.

In its latest report, Pagcor said total operating expenses for 2016 fell 3.1 percent year-on-year to about PHP14.76 billion.

The head of Pagcor, Andrea Domingo, stated in a January interview with the Philippine Daily Inquirer newspaper that the institution expected to see an improvement in revenues for 2016. Ms Domingo was quoted as saying in likelihood this would be “due to the combined effects of an improving market, as well as newly implemented in-house efficiency measures”.

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