£3.65bn GGR in 2023 - Pagcor aims for it!

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State-owned Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor), which is also the country’s gaming regulator, has announced that it has set a target of P244.84bn (£3.65bn/€4.14bn/$4.50bn) in national gross gambling revenue (GGR) for 2023.

The corporation has submitted a performance scorecard to the government for 2022 with a GGR forecast of P60.90bn, which is 33.13% higher than its P183.90bn target for the industry. The figure is also 14.2% higher than the actual GGR of P214.33bn achieved in 2022.

According to Pagcor Chairman and CEO, Alejandro H. Tengco, the increased target is due to the strong growth of the gaming sector in the previous year, which returned to some normalcy as lockdown restrictions eased in the Philippines late last year.

The corporation plans to generate P68.49bn of the target from its own operations in 2023. This is a 36.6% increase from the P50.13bn target for 2022 and 24.41% higher than the 2022 income from gaming.

Pagcor also aims to fully pay its obligations to various agencies and to achieve a profit of P1.02bn from its gaming activities. In addition, it aims to collect 98% of licenses and regulatory fees from its regulated gaming entities.

The corporation aims to retain its ISO:9001:2015 certification and achieve 100% completion of transactions within the prescribed period. It also aims to revise the agency’s Board-approved Competency Framework and establish a competency baseline for employees.

Tengco said that the organisation would aim to improve both its regulatory functions and business operations to achieve these targets, with the interests of responsible gaming and nation-building at the forefront of its plans.

Despite its ambitious plans for developing its gaming operations, Pagcor said that it is currently considering divesting itself of its commercial operations to become solely a regulatory entity.