Philippines gaming regulator Pagcor will start accepting bids on the 46 casinos it owns and operates by the end of the year with a view to start selling in 2018.
Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III told reporters over the weekend that the time was right to offload government casinos due to increased competition from privately-owned casino operators, with those directly operated by Pagcor likely to be first in line once a study into privatization methods is completed in the coming months.
“Those casinos being operated directly by Pagcor I think should be privatized first – maybe 17 of them,” he said.
“I think there is no way they can compete if we don’t privatize. They might actually lose their customers.
“We might as well do it now. That is why we have to analyze how much revenue comes from their winnings as against how much of the revenues come from the fees that are being paid.”
Pagcor recently announced profit for the first half of 2017 after taxes and remittance of Php3.06 billion (US$60.5 million), up 24.8% on the same period last year despite losing an estimated Php400 million (US$7.9 million) in revenue when it suspended Resorts World Manila’s gaming license for three weeks in June. Under Philippines law it must remit at least half of its net profit to the government.
While the first sales may begin shortly, Mr Dominguez noted that it would likely take many years for all 46 of Pagcor’s casinos to be sold.
“It’s not going to happen overnight,” he said. “The deals are quite complex so we have to piece it out and see what is the best deal for the government.”
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