The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) has so far achieved 85 percent of its target revenues for the year, driven mostly by online gaming operations as limitations remain due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Andrea Domingo, Pagcor chairman and chief executive officer, said during a virtual briefing yesterday the gaming regulator expects to generate revenues of P35 billion to P38 billion this year.
“We are at 85 percent of our target. We’re not hitting it (yet) because of some surprises (due to the pandemic),” Domingo said in the Pandesal Forum.
“We’re closed down in nine areas. We were closed down in National Capital Region where 85 percent of our operations are, we are still closed down in Cebu which is our next biggest, in Iloilo, in Laoag, in Cavite, in Tagaytay, so it’s hard to predict because even if we’re open, if one employee is infected, we have to close down for three days, and then get permission again to reopen, so it’s a very stressful time for us, but at least we are at 85 percent of our target,” she added.
The Pagcor chief previously said the amount generated in 2019 or pre-pandemic was about P80 billion, which went down to just below P30 billion last year.
Domingo added that because of the pandemic, the agency is relying mostly on online operations, such as Philippine offshore gaming operations (POGOs), e-sabong, e-games, e-bingo and the junket and e-junket operations.
“As soon as the travel ban is lifted and as soon as we would have the herd immunity (we will be able to fully recover). For our part, (almost) all of our employees are vaccinated, (or around) 98 percent, and we are keeping all of our stations, both owned and regulated, up to world class level of cleanliness and hygiene,” Domingo said.
“I think we should be able to start recovering by September, but I do not know how fast because the world economy is really down, and when you are down, you do not spend money on entertainment and amusement, as much as you would during good times,” she added.
Domingo said Pagcor should be able to generate revenues of about P5 billion from the POGO sector alone, even as many of its operators and service providers have already stopped their operations amid the pandemic.
“Before we had 58 to 60 (operators), now I think we have 33 operating. As for the service providers, we had more than 300 before, now we have 157. Still, we generate good revenues (from POGOs),” Domingo said.
