Philippines Finance Secretary Carlos G Dominguez III has confirmed that national regulatory body Pagcor would sell off its casinos by the end of the year, as per the government’s mandate.
Speaking to reporters at the Asian Development Bank’s 50th annual meeting in Yokohama, Japan, Dominguez said that Pagcor was keen to avoid any perceived conflict of interest while declaring that casino operations were best left to private operators.
“If our casinos were to replace a glass that’s broken, I think it will take ages as compared to what Okada and Solaire can do,” he said. “It’s better to move out.
“Secondly, it will remove the conflict of interest when you are the regulator as well.”
While Pagcor is yet to receive any formal bids for their 46 casinos, Dominguez the Privatization Council was still looking into the best pricing structure.
“Personally, I haven’t gotten any offers because they haven’t set out the terms of the privatization,” he said.
“You have to set out the terms, then people will come. Of course, we will make it attractive since we want to raise revenues from this and remove the conflict that’s ongoing and existing.”
Pagcor reported net income of PHP1.32 billion (US$26.6 million) for the first three months of 2017 – a 26.48% year-on-year increase – with revenue from gaming operations coming in at PHP14.04 billion (US$282.7 million).
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