Casino regulator-cum-operator the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (Pagcor) reported net income of PHP3.06 billion (US$60.2 million) for the first six months of 2017, up by 24.9 percent from the prior-year period.
Income from gaming operations stood at PHP28.27 billion in the six months to June 30, up 8.4 percent from a year earlier. In the three months to June 30, income from gaming operations reached PHP14.23 billion, a 1.4 percent sequential improvement compared to the first quarter.
The second quarter saw Pagcor suspend gaming operations at the Resorts World Manila casino venue, following an attack on the property on June 2 by a lone gunman that led to the deaths of 37 people.
Pagcor had said that daily revenue attributable to the body fell by between PHP12 million and PHP14 million as a result of the suspension of gaming operations at Resorts World Manila. Casino operations at the property resumed on June 29.
Pagcor’s total expenses increased by 67.8 percent year-on-year to PHP11.81 billion in the first half of 2017, according to a financial statement posted on its website.
The state-run company, an operator of publicly-owned casinos as well as the regulator for the country’s entire casino industry, paid out a total of PHP14.84 billion in gaming taxes and contributions from the first half revenue.
That figure included nearly PHP13.40 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 PHP4.46 billion in 2016, an increase of 18.1 percent from the previous year, according to official data. The results were positively affected by an increase of 22.9 percent in revenue from gaming operations.
Andrea Domingo, the head of Pagcor, had said in late June that across the country as a whole, the regulator expected to generate gaming revenues of PHP60 billion this year, compared to the PHP55.1 billion in 2016.
