The local gambling industry has seen its GGR (gross gaming revenue) grow to 266 billion pesos in the nine-month period. Higher operational capacity is driving this increase. It effectively hits nearly 80 percent of its target for the year.
Data from state-run PAGCOR or Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., showed that the GGR of the industry rose by 38 percent to 94.61 billion from July to September. This is in comparison to the 68.79 billion in the same period in 2023.
Up by 29 percent from 205.15 billion in the comparative period, this brought the nine-month GGR to 265.54 billion.
The end-September GGR has reached 78.9 percent of the 336.38 billion GGR target set by PAGCOR for 2024.
Alejandro Tengco, PAGCOR chairman and CEO said that for the third quarter alone, growth was driven mainly by the electronic gaming sector. It brings in 35.71 billion in revenues. This is a more than five-fold jump from 6.32 billion generated from the past year.
Tengco said that this performance indicates the growing role of modern technology in gaming. He also emphasized that mobile gadgets will continue to play a central role in shaping the future of gaming and amusement.
He said that the sector will keep on flourishing as technology increasingly becomes an essential part of people’s lifestyles. This includes shopping, gaming, and entertainment.
PAGCOR expects the e-gaming sector to generate 78 billion pesos in license fees. This will help bring total revenues to the 100-billion pesos mark by the end of the year.
On the contrary, casinos still accounted for the huge chunk of GGR at 54 percent. However, it posted a lower revenue of 50.72 billion from 51.9 billion in the comparative period.
By 26 percent to 3.64 billion as more players shifted to online platforms, revenues from PAGCOR-owned games under the Casino Filipino brand declined.
