Game regulator on track to meet revenue target (Sabong News)

AFTER a “bad start” this year, state-run Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) is now on track to hit P60 billion to P65 billion in gross gaming revenues (GGR) this year, a top Pagcor official said. This year’s target is double the amount Pagcor earned last year. Pagcor Chairman Andrea D. Domingo said last Wednesday the government-owned and controlled corporation has already collected between P16 billion and P17 billion as of April 25 this year despite gaming operations getting affected in the first two months of the year with the imposition of heightened restrictions to contain the surge in Covid-19 cases. Domingo said she believes there would not be any surge in cases and Pagcor will be able to continue to operate at 90 percent to 100 percent and earn more, especially in the second half of the year. “In spite of the bad start of the year in January and February, right now we are hitting our targets. And from what I see, as of April, we have already made about P17 billion; so we’ll have two months more until I end my term. And I think we should be hitting anywhere from P30 to P35 billion by June,” she said during a virtual forum. Pagcor has so far earned P8.16 billion from licensed casinos, P2.4 billion from bingo operations, P1.8 billion from e-sabong, P1.758 billion from slot machines, and over P1 billion from gaming tables. Meanwhile, the regulator also earned P649.59 million from online gaming operations and P412.18 million from Philippine Offshore Gaming Operations (Pogos). Domingo said the exodus of Pogos out of the country significantly affected collections from the sector. She noted that only 24 of the 66 entities are left operating as many transferred operations to other countries. The Pagcor chief said Pogos left the country because other countries are “more generous in their regulation fees and taxation system.” Also, she said Pogos faced challenges in their operations in terms of manpower and the downturn of the world economy amid the pandemic. Domingo said Pagcor was able to maintain its annual collections level up to 2019. “ Pero ngayon wala pa siguro kalahati kasi nga kumonti na ang operators,” she said. [But now maybe it would be less than half because the number of operators has decreased.] To recall, it was in September last year when President Duterte signed the law setting up a tax regime for Pogos. On electronic cockfight gaming or e-sabong, Domingo also said in the same forum they are “looking into penalizing” those who held games during the Holy Week. She said these e-sabong operations occurred because local government unit (LGU) officials issued permits to conduct traditional cockfighting that were streamed live over the Internet by the operators. “ Siguro dahil bago pa rin talaga yan, hindi pa siguro alam ng operators na pag Lent season at Christmas season na hihingi sila ng permit sa Pagcor or authorization to conduct gaming operations,” Domingo said. [Maybe because it’s still really new, maybe the operators don’t know yet that during the Lent season and Christmas season they must ask for a permit from Pagcor or authorization to conduct gaming operations.] For Domingo, it would have been better if e-sabong operations would be under the supervision of an independent regulator. “ Kailangan siguro may nakatutok dahil hybrid ’yung sabong e. May traditional operations na controlled ng LGU. Hindi namin kontrol ang laro, kontrol lang namin ang online betting,” she said. [Maybe an agency needs to focus on this because cockfighting is hybrid. There are traditional operations controlled by the LGU. We don’t control the game; we just control online betting.]