PAGCOR Chairman and CEO Alejandro Tengco says he expects gross gaming revenues generated by the Philippines gaming industry in 2023 to exceed pre-COVID levels, buoyed by the strength of the domestic market with a little help from first-time tourists.
This, he added at an industry event in Clark, is despite ongoing softness in the VIP space, suggesting even more room for growth in the years ahead.
“One year into the term of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, our gross gaming revenues have returned to near the levels of 2019 which was the year PAGCOR achieved its all-time high for Philippine GGR levels,” Tengco said.
“Today, we expect the 2023 GGR to match, if not surpass, our 2019 record. Not bad considering that many of our traditional high rollers and junkets have not fully returned, but our domestic players and the influx of new tourists have filled the void.”
The PAGCOR boss added that future growth among licensed casinos would be supported by new integrated resort developments in places like Manila and Clark, but also by the regulator’s own efforts to enhance its self-run Casino Filipino properties ahead of planned privatization.
Providing an update on these enhancement initiatives, Tengco said, “We expect the delivery of 3,000 brand new slot machines by January next year. We have an agreement in place with a supplier for a revenue-sharing scheme for these new machines which we expect to generate at least P18 billion (US$323 million) in revenues in the next five years,” he said.
“We are also modernizing our table games by replacing our old ones with new and more sophisticated gaming tables to attract more players and further increase revenues.”
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