MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) maintained its record-setting streak this year, posting an impressive P3.34-billion gross income last September, higher by P794 million or 31.18 percent compared to the same month of 2010.
This is the fifth consecutive month in a row that the state-owned gaming firm has surpassed its record for the highest earnings in a single month. Pagcor’s winning streak began in May when it earned P3.03 billion. This was followed by better income performances in June (P3.05 billion), July (P3.10 billion), and August (P3.11 billion).
Pagcor chairman and CEO Cristino Naguiat, Jr. reported that the substantial earnings for the first three quarters of 2011 brought Pagcor’s total income to P26.78 billion as of end September. The amount exceeded by P3.28 billion or almost 14 percent the P23.5 billion gross revenues generated by the agency for the same period in 2010.
The agency’s robust income performance was brought about by complementing factors such as the upbeat operations of Pagcor’s casinos and its other regulated gaming activities, and the prudent management of funds.
“Total winnings from our own gaming operations reached P18.04 billion during the first three quarters of 2011. This exceeded Pagcor’s P16.51 billion winnings for the same period last year by more than P1.52 billion,” Naguiat noted.
On the other hand, Pagcor’s January to September 2011 earnings from its other income sources reached P8.73 billion, up by P1.75 billion compared to the P6.98 billion generated for the same period of 2010. These other income sources include regulation of the operations of licensed casinos, Pagcor e-games stations, poker operations, and commercial bingo grantees.
Naguiat pointed out that there was also no letup in the implementation of cost-saving measures. “We were able to save P1.07 billion from Pagcor’s allocated budget for the year from January to September. We are doing our best to ensure that every peso earned by Pagcor will be spent wisely and – as much as possible – with an ROI (return on investment) for it,” he added.
With its substantial earnings, Pagcor was able to increase its contributions to nation building by over a billion pesos. “We remitted P12.33 billion to our various mandated beneficiaries. This was much higher by P1.01 billion compared to the P11.32 billion contributions that Pagcor made from January to September 2010,” Naguiat cited.
According to the Pagcor chief, the state-run gaming agency’s buoyant performance for 2011 is indicative of the generally bullish outlook for the global gaming industry. “Given the current trends in the worldwide gaming industry, global gaming revenues will reportedly reach over $156 billion by 2014. What excites us is the fact that the main growth may happen in the Asia Pacific region where several exciting developments are being eyed.”
Pagcor intends to cash in on the region’s booming gaming industry through the Entertainment City Manila project. “In the next few years, we will see four integrated resorts rising in the reclamation area of Roxas Boulevard. These projects are expected to rival the Macau and Singapore integrated resorts,” shared Naguiat.
“When the four integrated resorts become fully operational in the next few years, Pagcor hopes to obtain a 10-percent share of the prevailing $115-billion global gaming pie. This will give the Philippines $11.5 billion in revenue, making the country an even bigger destination than Las Vegas in terms of earnings,” said Naguiat. “If we succeed, we will generate an additional one million jobs and bring in a million more tourists,” he added.
“Pagcor’s existence is mainly based on its mandate of raising the much-needed revenues for our government’s nation-building programs and promoting Philippine tourism. We intend to address both through the Entertainment City Manila project,” he concluded.