The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) reported that last year's gross gaming revenue (GGR) in the local gaming industry reached a historic high of over 400 billion Philippine pesos.
Alejandro Tengco, Chairman and CEO of PAGCOR, stated at a briefing in the PAGCOR office in Pasay City that last year's gross gaming revenue amounted to 410.5 billion Philippine pesos.
This amount ranks second highest in Asia after Macau, and is higher than the 328.8 billion Philippine pesos in 2023.
Tengco mentioned that within the total amount, integrated resorts accounted for 49%, electronic gaming or e-gaming made up 38%, offshore gaming operations constituted 9%, and PAGCOR casinos comprised 4%.
PAGCOR expects that, even without offshore gaming operations, the gross gaming revenue in the gaming industry will further increase this year.
Tengco projected that this year's gross gaming revenue is expected to reach between 450 billion to 480 billion Philippine pesos.
Tengco noted that the gross gaming revenue for just January was nearly 40 billion Philippine pesos.
He indicated that this year, the share of total gross gaming revenue from integrated resorts (IR) and electronic gaming is expected to rise to 50% and 45% respectively.
Meanwhile, the revenue from PAGCOR casinos will contribute 5%.
"I believe the growth in gross gaming revenue will come from electronic gaming, and I believe the trend from January will continue," Tengco said.
"We continue to attract unregistered electronic gaming to register, as their rates are now comparable to licensing fees in global online gaming jurisdictions. We will keep accepting unregistered registrations, so this is the source of growth, as I said, IR is gaining development momentum," he added.
Earlier this year, PAGCOR further reduced the fees for electronic gaming from 35% to 30%.
Tengco earlier stated that this move aims to create a more favorable regulatory environment by encouraging unregistered online gaming operators to transition to the legal market.
