Philippines casino industry posts encouraging third-quarter figures

In the Philippines and ongoing effects of the coronavirus pandemic reportedly pushed aggregated third-quarter gross gaming revenues for the nation’s land-based casino industry down by over 71% year-on-year to approximately $312.59 million.

According to a report from Inside Asian Gaming citing official figures released by the Philippines Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCor) regulator, the tally for the three months to the end of September nevertheless represented a 596% rise when compared with the $44.89 million chalked up for the preceding quarter when the country’s land-based casino industry was almost entirely shuttered.

Coronavirus consequences:

Land-based casinos in the Philippines reportedly recorded aggregated first-quarter gross gaming revenues of nearly $794.78 million but were ordered to close from March 16 as the nation of some 109 million people struggled to contain a coronavirus outbreak that has so far been blamed for the deaths of 8,215 locals. The source reported that these properties were allowed to revive operations from early in September so long as they agreed to follow a range of new social distancing protocols as well as a temporary 30% capacity limitation.

Prominent players:

The third-quarter figures from PAGCor also reportedly revealed that the three integrated casino resorts in suburban Manila’s Entertainment City district saw their aggregated third-quarter gross gaming revenues improve by 561% quarter-on-quarter to around $269.36 million. There was moreover a comparable 917% boost for properties in the Clark Freeport Zone to $39.28 million while the $19.01 million racked up by the nationwide chain of state-owned Casino Filipino-branded properties equated to a boost of 625%.

Industry-wide improvement:

Finally, the PAGCor figures reportedly showed that total aggregated third-quarter gross gaming revenues in the Philippines grew by 630% year-on-year to $367.04 million although this was some 70% lower than the $1.24 billion brought in over the course of the year’s initial three months.