Philippine Gambling Revenue to Reach P192 Billion in 2018

The gambling business is booming in the Philippines.

The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) announced this week the gross gaming revenue (GGR) from the country’s casino and gambling industry is projected to hit P192 billion before the end of 2018.

Should the newly projected mark be hit, GGR – defined as the net difference between total bets made and winnings paid out – would result in a 14 percent increase from 2017 and a 3.2 percent increase of P6 billion over the previous estimate of P186 billion for 2018.

The gambling industry has taken off in the Philippines due to it being integrated into many of the top resorts in the country along with offering numerous online options, attracting players that are both foreign and domestic.

Pagcor CEO Andrea Domingo said the market has exceeded projection and the online sector continues to grow substantially due to players from overseas betting on casino games and sports.

“Our performance this year is better than expected for both the private integrated resorts and the Pagcor-owned casinos,” Domingo said.

The CEO of the Philippines’ top casino regulator added the GGR now projects a yearly increase of 13 percent and the industry will continue to grow, predicting annual earning to reach P217 billion by the end of 2019.

Additionally, Filipino workers have issued concerns to Domingo, who spoke this week at the Kapihan sa Manila Bay forum in Malate, Manila, regarding the growing number of Chinese nationals in the online gambling industry.

The CEO said Filipino workers are not at a disadvantage in the online sector of the industry and assured the public that Chinese nationals we not taking away jobs from citizens of the Philippines.

Domingo stressed the local jobs in the online sector given to Chinese nationals were “distinct” due to the difficulty of speaking China’s complex languages.

She further added that while there are Filipinos who can speak Mandarin, Cantonese, or Hokkien, she said their diction and accent would differ too much from the Chinese mainland.

According to the Pagcor CEO, three-fourths of workers employed by online gambling operators in the Philippines are from another country.

Domingo promised the public there would continue to be one Filipino worker for every four foreign nationals in the online sector of gambling in the Philippines.