The Philippine casino sector produced nearly PHP52.30 billion (US$999.7 million) in gross gaming revenue (GGR) in the second quarter this year, according to data released on Monday by that country’s gaming regulator. The GGR tally for the three months to June 30 was down 0.4 percent from the preceding quarter.
The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (Pagcor), an operator of public-sector casinos as well as regulator and licensor of commercial-sector venues, did not give year-on-year comparison in its data table, nor did its website carry the prior-year numbers.
Private-sector casinos based in Entertainment City, a special development zone for gaming resorts in the capital Manila, produced just above PHP40.51 billion in GGR in the April to June period, up 1.7 percent quarter-on-quarter. It accounted for 77.5 percent of all casino GGR reported for the period.
Private-sector casinos – referred to by Pagcor as “licensed” casinos and including those in Clark Freeport and elsewhere – also produced the lion’s share of Philippine GGR in the three main casino gaming product categories: mass table games; junket play, and electronic gaming machines.
Mass table play – referred to by Pagcor as “non-junket” – in all the commercial casinos produced PHP16.99 billion in GGR. Junket play in private-sector venues generated nearly PHP13.17 billion; while electronic machines produced almost PHP13.08 billion.
Pagcor’s own casinos – branded Casino Filipino – generated PHP9.07 billion in GGR in the second quarter.
The second-quarter GGR tally for electronic gaming parlours was just under PHP7.86 billion, taking the grand total for all gaming in the period to just under PHP60.16 billion.
Last month Pagcor reported income from gaming operations of approximately PHP36.57 billion in the six months to June 30, up 9.3 percent from a year earlier. The firm posted net income of PHP3.08 billion for the first half of 2019.
The Philippine casino industry reported GGR of PHP187.54 billion in full calendar year 2018, up 22.9 percent from the prior-year period, according to official data.
A recent note from Morgan Stanley Asia Ltd suggested that casino gaming in the Philippines was “growing faster” than in Las Vegas, Macau and Singapore.
