PAGCOR net income down 87% in 2021 due to Covid-19 restrictions

PAGCOR has reported that net income plunged nearly 87 per cent from PHP1.55m (US$307.4m) to PHP203.6m (US$4.0m) in 2021.

The Philippines.- The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (PAGCOR) has reported that net income for the year 2021 was down 86.9 per cent year-on-year to PHP203.6m (US$4.0m). According to the regulator, the drop was mainly due to multiple countermeasures and lockdowns associated with the Covid-19 pandemic.

The government decided to keep the country under Alert Level 2 until the end of the year due to the new Omicron strain and casinos operated on a limited basis throughout most of 2021. Pagcor’s gross gaming revenue excluding taxes and donations was down 9.4 per cent from PHP20.26bn in 2020 to PHP18.35bn in 2021.

PAGCOR Chairman and CEO Andrea Domingo told Business Mirror that the closure of some Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs) has partly contributed to a drop in PAGCOR’s net income. Meanwhile, expenditures including donations to the national government reached PHP17.86bn, down 4.48 per cent from the previous year’s PHP18.7bn.

Last October, Carlos G. Dominguez, the Philippines’ finance secretary said just 40 POGO licence holders were operating, compared with 61 before the Covid-19 pandemic. Dominguez associated this with China’s crackdown on cross-border gaming as well as budget shortfalls.

Last year, the Philippines’ president signed a new tax bill into law, obliging Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs) to pay a 5 per cent tax on their gross gaming revenue.