Ordered to privatize under Duterte
With gross gaming revenue up in the Philippines since January, the head of the state-run casino regulator—which doubles as an operator—says she’s in no hurry to sell off the body’s 46 casinos, as ordered in 2016 by President Rodrigo Duterte.
According to the Asia Gaming Brief, Chairwoman Andrea Domingo said she does not oppose the sell-off, but is not making haste to implement it.
“If it is going to happen it will happen but I’m not holding my breath,” Domingo said at a press conference during the ASEAN Gaming Summit. “It’s a business opportunity and we’re going to seize it. I think it’s the right decision. But we’re now earning more money from our own casinos than we did before.”
When Duterte took office last year, he ordered the divestiture amid concerns about potential conflicts of interest for PAGCOR; the regulator’s casino were seen as “potential entry points to the Philippines for international investors,” reported AGB.
Now with the sector turning a profit, things may change, Domingo hinted. “We have not started pricing the casinos. We have not started planning it out. Whether it should be sold as a whole, all 46, or on a property-per-property basis. That still has to be decided,” she said.
PAGCOR says its casinos generated GGR of P9.71 billion (US$193.5 million) in the past two months, and March may improve on those numbers. The whole market expects to grow to as much as P155 billion pesos for 2017, compared to the P149 billion generated in 2016.
The regulator also has begun issuing online licenses to Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators, with 35 licenses granted on a trial basis so far.
“We are trying to create a better image of the Philippines in the world by telling them we are going to have professional management,” said Domingo. “There won’t be any criminal activities that can be done in our casinos and in our online gaming stations.”
When he assumed power last year, Duterte announced a full-scale war on online gaming, but later said he was only going after illegal operators. He later instructed PAGCOR to begin issuing the POGO licenses.
