The Philippine gaming sector – including non-casino operations – produced gross gaming revenue (GGR) of PHP81.70 billion (US$1.42 billion) in the first quarter of 2024, up 18.5 percent from the prior-year quarter. The tally was up 2.0 percent sequentially.

The latest quarterly GGR figure was “another new record, sustaining an upward trend for the local gaming industry since the post-pandemic recovery started in the last quarter of 2022,” said the country’s casino regulator, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (Pagcor), in a Wednesday announcement.

The agency said the electronic-delivered games segment continued its “record-breaking performance”, bringing in PHP22.5 billion in GGR for the three months to March 31, or “more than six times” the PHP3.5 billion recorded in the opening quarter of 2023.

Alejandro Tengco, chairman and chief executive of Pagcor, was quoted in the release as saying the e-Games revenue performance “continues to exceed” the regulator’s projections.

He stated: “This reflects how gaming technology and the proliferation of mobile devices is influencing not only our daily lives but our entertainment choices as well.”

Mr Tengco added: “With the way technology is constantly shaping our lives and the way we do business, and even the way we choose to be entertained, the future of gaming clearly lies in this [e-Games] sector.”

The country’s licensed commercial-sector casinos remained the “biggest contributor” to first-quarter GGR, at PHP49.7 billion. The figure was down 8.2 percent year-on-year, according to the release.

Pagcor-operated casinos – under its network of Casino Filipino venues – brought in PHP4.69 billion in GGR in the first quarter, an 8.6-percent decline from a year earlier.

The agency said the year-on-year decline in GGR at land-based casino venues “underscored the challenge faced by the segment as more players continue to migrate to online platforms”.

Pagcor expects the nation’s gaming industry to generate PHP336.38 billion in GGR this year, a 17.9-percent increase compared with 2023. The first-quarter aggregate represented 24.3 percent of the agency’s target.