THE Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR) is set to launch its online casino this year, its chairman said.
“Maybe towards the second half of this year, casinofilipino.com will be set up,” PAGCOR Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Alejandro H. Tengco told reporters on Jan. 15.
PAGCOR has no estimate yet on how much the online casino will contribute to its gross gaming revenues or GGR.
“No projections yet. But if you will look at our revenues generated from electronic gaming, I believe it will be also a substantial amount. A plus factor is the Casino Filipino brand,” Mr. Tengco said.
“The worldwide trend is very clear. The trend is now there is a shift from traditional land-based casinos to online gaming,” he added.
PAGCOR recently said the country’s GGR hit a record high of P285.27 billion in 2023, up by 33.1% from the P214.33 billion in 2022. The previous high was in 2019 when the country’s GGR reached P256.49 billion.
The country’s integrated resorts shared the biggest revenue at P207.48 billion, followed by the electronic games sector at P58.16 billion.
“Our 2023 results exceeded even our most optimistic projections, and it proves beyond doubt that the Philippine gaming industry has fully recovered and is now poised for sustained growth in the medium- to long-term,” Mr. Tengco said.
PAGCOR is seeking to hit P336.38 billion worth of GGR this year on the back of new integrated resorts.
“We are projecting that our licensed casinos from the Entertainment City, Metro Manila, Clark, Cebu, and the Fiesta Casinos in Rizal and Poro Point will contribute as much as P256.63 billion to our 2024 GGR,” Mr. Tengco said. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave
