The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (PAGCOR), the country’s gaming regulator, remitted PHP3.27 billion to the national government in May, marking a 26.1-percent increase from the nearly PHP2.6 billion remitted in the same month a year ago.
According to the latest cash-operations report released by the Philippines’ Bureau of the Treasury, this May remittance brought PAGCOR’s total remittances to the national government for the first five months of this year to an aggregate of PHP17.38 billion, 31.2 percent higher than the PHP13.25 billion remitted in the same period in 2023.
The five-month total also represents a 23.3-percent increase from the PHP14.10 billion remitted in the first five months of 2019, the year prior to the Covid-19 pandemic.
PAGCOR regulates and licenses private-sector casinos, including large-scale resorts in Entertainment City, Manila, and also operates some publicly-owned casinos under the brand ‘Casino Filipino’. PAGCOR has recently reiterated its commitment to privatizing the chain.
In the Philippines, government-owned and -controlled corporations are mandated by Republic Act (RA) No. 7656, also known as the Dividends Law, to remit at least 50 percent of their net earnings to the national government, as noted in a late March statement from PAGCOR.
With the advent of online gaming for the local market, it shows that it can help boost the economy through the revenues generated from it.
