State-run Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (Pagcor) reported net income of PHP1.55 billion (US$30.0 million) for the first three months of 2019. The figure was 9.5 percent higher than in the prior-year period.
Total revenue from gaming operations increased by 15.6 percent year-on-year to nearly PHP18.27 billion, compared to approximately PHP15.80 billion in the first quarter of 2018.
The gaming regulator said it paid out a total of PHP9.59 billion in gaming taxes and contributions from that first quarter gaming revenue. The deductions included PHP8.66 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 that national government body.
Pagcor reported total income net of taxes of nearly PHP9.69 billion in the first quarter, a 14.7-percent increase from a year earlier. But its total expenses increased by 15.8 percent year-on-year to nearly PHP8.14 billion in the first three months of 2019, according to a financial statement posted on its website on Tuesday.
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 reached approximately PHP6.78 billion in the three months to March 31. Income collected from offshore gaming operators stood at nearly PHP1.34 billion in the reporting period, according to Pagcor’s latest financial statement.
Pagcor reported net income of approximately PHP31.49 billion for full calendar year 2018, up by 536.6 percent from 2017. Such jump in net income was due to a land sale to Philippine casino operator Bloomberry Resorts Corp, completed in June. Bloomberry’s unit Sureste Properties Inc paid PHP37.33-billion to Pagcor for two parcels of land in Metro Manila that are home to the group’s Solaire Resort and Casino. Pagcor reported a gain of PHP32.72 billion on the sale.
