{"id":23041,"date":"2021-09-28T13:00:01","date_gmt":"2021-09-28T16:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=23041"},"modified":"2026-04-23T15:15:58","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T18:15:58","slug":"pagcor-announces-support-for-casino-filipino-host-cities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/pagcor-announces-support-for-casino-filipino-host-cities","title":{"rendered":"PAGCOR announces support for Casino Filipino host cities"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">PAGCOR has announced that the cities and local government units that host a Casino Filipino branch will receive a PHP34.64m (US$678,543) grant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Philippines.- The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (PAGCOR) has approved a<strong>\u00a0PHP34.64m (US$678,543) grant for cities that host a Casino Filipino<\/strong>\u00a0to help them recover from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Andrea Domingo, PAGCOR chairman<\/strong>, said: &#8220;With the approved grant of PHP34.64m, our host cities will be able to receive financial support that is almost equivalent to their host city share allocation under full operational capacity.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Domingo said the money remitted by PAGCOR to its host networks is used for different activities, including emergency assistance to calamity victims, education programs, anti-drug abuse campaigns, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Between 2016 to March 2020,\u00a0<strong>PAGCOR dispatched over PHP1.93bn to urban communities<\/strong>\u00a0that have a Casino Filipino branch.\u00a0Among these were the legislatures of Manila, Pasay, Angeles City, Olongapo, Tagaytay, Cavite, Cebu, Lapu-Lapu City, Mandaue City, Bacolod, Negros Occidental, Iloilo, Laoag City, Ilocos Norte and Davao.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">PAGCOR casino sale seen as unviable<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The government is keen to bring in more revenue due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, but&nbsp;<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/pagcor-casino-sale-seen-as-unviable\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">selling PAGCOR\u2018s own casinos<\/a>&nbsp;wouldn\u2019t be an option, analysts say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The regulator-cum-operator\u2019s&nbsp;<strong>dual role has been a topic of long debate<\/strong>&nbsp;given the potential conflict of interest, and analysts have claimed that that the position is untenable if the Philippines want to establish a world-class gaming industry and regulatory system.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, while PAGOR currently operates 40 properties, it does so via leases and doesn\u2019t own the properties themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Scott Feeney<\/strong>, director at GCG Gaming Advisory Services, said: \u201cI\u2019m not convinced that investors would be keen on purchasing a lease and then having to compete with the 5-Star developments in Entertainment City or the current and future developments in Cebu and Clark.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Andrea Domingo<\/strong>&nbsp;recently said the casino industry in the Philippines could return to&nbsp;<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/pagcor-revenue-to-return-to-pre-pandemic-levels-by-the-end-of-2022\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">pre-pandemic levels<\/a>&nbsp;by the end of next year if the country achieves herd immunity and borders restrictions are lifted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She also predicted&nbsp;<strong>PAGCOR\u2019s revenues could reach between PHP35bn (US$701.6m)&nbsp;<\/strong>to PHP38bn in 2021.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>PAGCOR has announced that the cities and local government units that host a Casino Filipino branch will receive a PHP34.64m (US$678,543) grant.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"PAGCOR has allocated a PHP34.64m grant to host cities of Casino Filipino branches, facilitating post-pandemic recovery efforts. Concurrently, industry analysts deem the divestment of PAGCOR's casino operations unviable, intensifying the long-standing debate regarding its dual regulator-operator role and its implications for establishing a robust gaming regulatory system. PAGCOR's chairman projects a return to pre-pandemic revenue levels by late 2022, with 2021 revenues estimated between PHP35bn and PHP38bn.","focusai_entities":"PAGCOR, Andrea Domingo, Scott Feeney, GCG Gaming Advisory Services, Casino Filipino","focusai_location":"Philippines, Manila, Pasay, Angeles City, Olongapo, Tagaytay, Cavite, Cebu, Lapu-Lapu City, Mandaue City, Bacolod, Negros Occidental, Iloilo, Laoag City, Ilocos Norte, Davao, Entertainment City, Clark","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), operator_casino (0.8), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.7), journalist_researcher (1.0)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"PAGCOR Dual Role Impact","query":"What specific governance framework adjustments are being considered to mitigate the inherent conflict of interest arising from PAGCOR's dual role as both a regulator and an operator, and how might this impact future B2B\/B2C licensing structures in the Philippines?"},{"label":"Market Recovery Projections","query":"Beyond herd immunity and border lifting, what specific economic indicators and policy interventions are critical for the Philippine iGaming market to achieve PAGCOR's projected pre-pandemic revenue levels by late 2022, and what are the associated risks to these forecasts?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[157,16333],"tags":[23632,23907,405],"class_list":["post-23041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business-news","category-south-east-asia-news","tag-integrated-resorts","tag-land-based-casino","tag-pagcor"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23041"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23041\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23066,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23041\/revisions\/23066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}