{"id":777004658,"date":"2023-04-26T13:39:26","date_gmt":"2023-04-26T16:39:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777004658"},"modified":"2026-04-22T22:30:58","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T01:30:58","slug":"pagcor-casinos-sale-wont-threaten-private-sector-analysts-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/pagcor-casinos-sale-wont-threaten-private-sector-analysts-say","title":{"rendered":"PAGCOR casinos sale won’t threaten private sector, analysts say"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A report suggests the Philippine government may struggle to find buyers for PAGCOR\u2019s casinos as they are outdated and costly to upgrade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The Philippines.- The Philippine government’s planned sale of its state-owned casinos is unlikely to pose a competitive threat to the private sector, according to a report from Maybank Securities Inc. Analyst Miguel Sevida<\/strong>l has suggested that prospective buyers are likely to face high costs for upgrading the venues and integrating new technology, which may make them unattractive buys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The analyst noted that only ten of PAGCOR’s 44 Casino Filipino<\/strong> venues were located within proximity to Entertainment City, home to private sector operators such as Solaire Resort and Casino, Okada Manila, City of Dreams Manila, and Newport World Resorts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sevidal suggested that interest would be low unless valuations became more attractive. He also noted that Casino Filipino outlets cater primarily to the local mass market and are likely to see a limited boost from the recovery of foreign tourism in the Philippines. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maybank added that any sale of PAGCOR operations could increase the local mass market exposure of existing private-sector operators and “add 10 per cent to Entertainment City’s gross gaming revenue.” In the fourth quarter of 2022, Entertainment City properties generated just under PHP44.06bn, representing around 78.7 per cent of all industry gross gaming revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In March, Alejandro H. Tengco<\/strong>, chairman and chief executive officer of PAGCOR, said the regulator-cum-operator was \u201cseriously considering the privatisation of all PAGCOR-operated casinos<\/a>\u201d in order to split its regulatory and operating functions. He estimated that the Philippines could raise around PHP80bn (US$1.47bn) <\/strong>from the sale of the casinos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

See also: <\/strong>Morgan Stanley analysts question PAGCOR casinos sale price<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

PAGCOR reports net income of US$317.97m for Q1<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

PAGCOR has reported net income of PHP1.87bn (US$303.19m) for Q1, up 42.6 per cent year-on-year from PHP624.7m. Revenue from gaming operations was up 49 per cent year-on-year from PHP11.29bn to PHP16.87bn (US$303.19m). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The figure was up 13.61 per cent when compared to the previous quarter. The regulator recorded profits of PHP1.33bn (US$24m), up 114 per cent from the previous year and 423.39 per cent above its target.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In March, PAGCOR announced a target of PHP244.84bn (US$4.5bn)<\/a> in gross gaming revenue (GGR) for 2023 as the \u201clocal gaming industry continues to gain momentum\u201d. The target is 33.1 per cent higher than last year\u2019s target and 14.2 per cent higher than the 2022 GGR.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A report suggests the Philippine government may struggle to find buyers for PAGCOR\u2019s casinos as they are outdated and costly to upgrade.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":34645,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"A Maybank Securities report suggests the Philippine government may face challenges in divesting PAGCOR's state-owned casinos due to their outdated infrastructure and high upgrade costs, limiting buyer interest. While unlikely to intensify private sector competition, the privatization could enhance existing Entertainment City operators' local mass market exposure, potentially adding 10% to the region's GGR. PAGCOR's chairman aims to raise PHP80bn from the sale to bifurcate its regulatory and operating functions.","focusai_entities":"PAGCOR, Maybank Securities Inc., Miguel Sevidal, Alejandro H. Tengco, Solaire Resort and Casino, Okada Manila, City of Dreams Manila, Newport World Resorts, Morgan Stanley","focusai_location":"Philippines, Manila, Entertainment City","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (0.95), operator_casino (0.9), investor_analyst (0.95), supplier_vendor (0.7), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"PAGCOR Governance Shift?","query":"What specific governance framework adjustments are anticipated from PAGCOR's proposed separation of regulatory and operating functions, and how might this influence future B2B\/B2C licensing and compliance standards within the Philippine iGaming sector?"},{"label":"Asset Valuation Strategy?","query":"Considering the Maybank Securities analysis on asset obsolescence and upgrade costs, what revised valuation strategies might the Philippine government or prospective buyers adopt to facilitate the privatization of PAGCOR's casino portfolio?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[157,158,16333],"tags":[405],"class_list":["post-777004658","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-news","category-slider-home","category-south-east-asia-news","tag-pagcor"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777004658","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=777004658"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777004658\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777004686,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777004658\/revisions\/777004686"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777004658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777004658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777004658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}