The Philippines Commission on Audit says the Manila Bay branch of the state-run Casino Filipino brand is shedding revenues at an unacceptable rate—PHP2.1 billion (US$41 million) since 2014. The COA has asked that the property be closed, saying, “The existence of adverse financial conditions for five consecutive years of the CF-Manila Bay casts doubt on its ability to operate as a going concern.”
Auditors told the casino’s regulator-operator, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., to “devise realistic development plans and strategies to generate sufficient funds” or consider closure of the property to “avert continuous losses.”
But PAGCOR says the loss figures are incorrect, and the property turns a profit if its social contributions are subtracted from the bottom line.
In a statement sent to the media last week, PAGCOR said the COA’s calculations include revenue deficits accrued by CF Pavilion, “a branch independent of Casino Filipino Manila Bay” that closed in March 2018. It countered that Manila Bay had posted gross revenue gains since it opened, from an average of PHP4.22 million per month in 2017 to PHP13.38 million in 2018.
“While it is true that the local gaming landscape is becoming increasingly competitive due to the opening of integrated resorts in Metro Manila, among other factors, we deem it necessary for COA to consider CF Manila Bay’s steady contributions to PAGCOR’s mandated beneficiaries as part of the branch’s profits and contributions to nation-building and not as losses,” PAGCOR said.
Last year the regulator considered selling its Casino Filipino properties, which some say represent a conflict of interest, as PAGCOR is in essence acting as a watchdog of properties it owns. Those properties are located in eight markets around the country. But with the boom in gaming revenues in the country, that plan seems to have been sidelined for now.
Gross gaming revenues for 2018 reached PHP200 billion, an increase of 13 percent year-on-year. And PAGCOR chief Andrea Domingo has forecast 8.5 percent growth to PHP217 billion for 2019. In her words, “Gaming seems to be the sunrise industry now in Asia.”
