PhilWeb back in business—in part
The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. has seen an uptick in gaming revenues from government-owned operations for the third quarter.
PAGCOR’s net income after expenses for the three-month period totaled PHP 4.36 billion (US$84.3 million), up 36 percent year-on-year. Gaming revenues stood at PHP 42.38 billion (US$820 million), up more than 11 percent. The regulator shares half its gaming operations with the federal government. Together the assets include 13 Casino Filipino locations and 35 satellites, reported Casino.org.
Through September, PAGCOR has added $390 million to government coffers, second only to the country’s Bureau of Internal Revenue.
In related news, in a filing to the Philippine Stock Exchange, eGames provider PhilWeb disclosed that it has been reaccredited to offer its games to licensed internet cafés. PhilWeb—once targeted for shutdown by President Rodrigo Duterte—is still prohibited from operating its own gaming halls.
When Duterte took office in mid-2016, PhilWeb was the Philippines’ largest operator of internet cafes with nearly 300 locations. Duterte called PhilWeb Director Roberto Ongpin “an oligarch who must be destroyed”; Ongpin sold his ownership stake in PhilWeb to try to protect the jobs of 6,000 employees.
Duterte has since backed off his hardline stance because of the revenue to be derived from gaming. The four casinos in Manila’s Entertainment City generated $550 million in gross gaming revenues through the first half of 2017, an increase of 26 percent.
