PASAY CITY -- The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) today said it booked P79.37 billion in revenues in 2023, up 34.63 percent from last year’s P58.96 billion, driven mainly by robust earnings from licensed casinos and the rising Electronic Games sector.

Gaming operations remain the main source of PAGCOR revenues with P73.11 billion while other sources such as services, business income, gains and non-operating income contributed P6.26 billion.

Net income was at P6.81 billion, a 53.27 percent increase from the agency’s P4.44 billion profit in 2022.

PAGCOR Chairman and CEO Alejandro H. Tengco said the higher earnings enabled the state gaming firm to increase its contribution to nation-building (CNB) to P49.56 billion which is 43 percent higher than the P34.67 billion CNB in the previous year.

“Our robust revenue generation in 2023 allowed us to remit more funds to the government to finance various services, including funding for the Universal Health Care program, also known as Philhealth,” the PAGCOR chief said.

Chairman Tengco said that the lion’s share of PAGCOR’s CNB amounting to P34.72 billion has been remitted to the National Treasury. Half of the amount or P17.36 billion will go to Philhealth to provide free health care coverage to millions of poor Filipinos.

PAGCOR also remitted P3.65 billion to the Bureau of Internal Revenue as 5 percent franchise tax and another P285.20 million for the agency’s corporate income tax.

Other recipients of PAGCOR’s 2023 earnings include the Philippine Sports Commission (P1.73 billion) while a separate P92.58 million was given to athletes and coaches who won in international competitions as mandated by the Sports Incentives and Benefits Act.

PAGCOR will also remit P3.06 billion in cash dividends to the National Treasury, while local government units hosting Casino Filipino branches collectively will get P451.72 million.

The Board of Claims under the Department of Justice will also receive P63.12 million to compensate persons who have been wrongly imprisoned.

“With the Philippine gaming industry’s full recovery from the impact of the pandemic, we are optimistic that PAGCOR will sustain this growth momentum in the coming years,” Chairman Tengco said.

The biggest revenue drivers for PAGCOR in 2023 are the licensed casinos in the country’s integrated resorts which contributed P33.18 billion or 45.38 percent of the income from gaming operations.

This was followed by the surging E-Games sector which includes e-bingos, e-games, specialty games and sports betting with P21.66 billion or 29.62 percent of gaming income, while PAGCOR-run casinos chipped in P15.12 billion or 20.68 percent.

Offshore gaming operations brought in P3.15 billion or 4.31 percent of PAGCOR’s total gaming revenues.

Earlier, Chairman Tengco announced that the Philippine gaming industry’s gross gaming revenues in 2023 reached a record P285.27 billion which already surpassed pre-pandemic levels. (PAGCOR)