Alejandro Tengco, chairman and CEO of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR), says investors could inject up to $6 billion into the country’s gaming industry by 2029.
Tengco made the prediction on the sidelines of the ASEAN Gaming Summit last week. “We will have continued growth because of the opening of new casinos and the expansion in the electronic gaming segment,” he said, adding that gross gaming revenue (GGR) could reach $8 billion to $9 billion by 2027.
According to Asia Gaming Brief, Tengco also said that by 2025, the Philippines could surpass Singapore as Asia’s second-largest gaming hub after Macau.
“If Singapore doesn’t expand, they will plateau,” Tengco told Bloomberg. “Don’t be surprised if next year we surpass them.”
According to Reuters, domestic mass market gamblers and foreign players from Japan, South Korea and Singapore supplanted Mainland Chinese high-rollers in the Philippines following the pandemic and Beijing’s junket crackdown.
As a result, said Tengco, operators like Bloomberry Resorts (Solaire), Universal Entertainment (Okada Manila), and units of Philippine conglomerates SM Investments (City of Dreams) and Alliance Global Group (Newport World) posted impressive results in 2023.
The country is fortifying its gaming industry in anticipation of new competition from Japan, which is expected to open its first integrated resort in 2030, and Thailand, which is inching closer to legalizing casinos.
“We have about five to six years to fortify and solidify so when they open, we are mature already,” Tengco said.
The Philippines Department of Tourism hopes to attract 7.7 million foreign tourists this year, slightly below the pre-pandemic total of 8.26 million, but above the 5.45 million who visited in 2023.
Meanwhile, data from the regulator shows that Solaire dominated the Philippines casino market in 2023, reaping GGR of $1.1 billion. Okada Manila was next with $803 million, followed by Newport World Resorts with $619 million and City of Dreams Manila with $572 million.
Hann Casino Resort was tops in Clark with GGR of $215 million.
According to Inside Asian Gaming, industry-wide revenues for the year reached $5.15 billion.
