Alejandro Tengco, chairman and chief executive of the Philippine gaming regulator, thinks the nation’s 2024 gross gaming revenue (GGR) – including non-casino operations - is likely to be PHP336.38 billion (US$6.03 billion). If realised, that would be a new GGR record for the country’s gaming industry, and would be up circa 17.9 percent on the PHP285.27 billion expected for full-year 2023, once the fourth quarter data are confirmed.

Mr Tengco (pictured in a file photo), head of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (Pagcor), which also runs the publicly-owned Casino Filipino chain of gaming venues, made the 2024 prediction in an interview, as cited by the Manila Bulletin news outlet on Monday.

The Pagcor chairman said that while electronically-delivered gaming was likely to contribute PHP61.75 billion in 2024, the traditional formats via the licensed commercial-sector casinos would take the lead.

Entertainment City in Metro Manila, as well as commercial venues in Clark, Cebu and Rizal and Poro Point would “contribute as much as PHP256.63 billion to our 2024 GGR,” Mr Tengco stated.

The Pagcor boss said 2023 GGR would be 11.2 percent higher than the previous record of PHP256.49 billion set in 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak. In the subsequent period, gaming revenues had fallen because of public health-related limitations on movement within the country, and on inbound tourism.

“Our 2023 results exceeded even our most optimistic projections, and it proves beyond doubt that the Philippine gaming industry has fully recovered and is now poised for sustained growth in the medium- to long-term,” Mr Tengco was quoted as saying.

Mr Tengco said the country’s integrated resorts were the biggest 2023 contributors to the gaming industry’s revenues, with PHP207.48 billion take, with electronically-delivered gaming delivering PHP58.16 billion.

In November, state-run Pagcor said it expected its net operating income to reach PHP61.5 billion this year.