Philippine gross gaming revenue (GGR) is likely to exceed US$6 billion for 2024, said on Tuesday Alejandro Tengco (pictured in a file photo), chairman of the country’s regulator, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (Pagcor). That would be a new record, based on Pagcor’s previous disclosures.

“Our GGR for the year, I think it’s over PHP350 billion [US$6.03 billion currently],” Mr Tengco told reporters, as cited by a number of news outlets.

It surpasses a forecast of PHP336.38 billion in GGR for full-year 2024, made by Mr Tengco in January. He added that a growth driver this year was the electronic gaming sector.

The figure mentioned by Mr Tengco on Tuesday would be circa 23 percent higher than the PHP285.27 billion in GGR for 2023, which Pagcor had said was a record annual figure.

On Tuesday, Mr Tengco said Pagcor’s revenue could double this year.

“I think the net income of Pagcor this year will be between PHP12 billion to PHP15 billion. I have a feeling it will almost double,” he stated.

The agency posted 2023 net income of nearly PHP6.82 billion, up 53.3 percent from the previous year.

In October, Pagcor reported net income of just above PHP9.63 billion for the first nine months of 2024, up 98.1 percent from the prior-year period.

Mr Tengco was also cited on Tuesday as saying Pagcor was on track to revoke all licences of offshore online gambling businesses by year-end, in compliance with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr’s July directive banning such operations.