The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) will further reduce gross gaming revenue (GGR) rates and licence fees for online and on-site betting platforms by 2025 .

According to Philippines news sources, PAGCOR Chair and CEO Alejandro Tengco said licence fees for landed venues would be reduced to 30% while integrated resorts with online gaming services would see a 25% reduction in fees. 

“By lowering our licence fees, to be at par with the global industry standards, we hope to attract and keep more investors in place,” said Tengco during his speech at the Inside Asian Gaming Academy Summit, held in Hilton Manila, Pasay City.

He also added that the lowered fee would help curb illegal gambling operations.

“The observation I made upon my assumption in the office was that the grey market or the underground market was doing so well, way, way better than PAGCOR. And licensees were closing shops, primarily because they could not compete anymore with the grey market.”

PAGCOR aimed to achieve the PHP 335bn ($5.96bn) industry GGR target by the end of the year following the sustained growth of the local gaming industry.

PAGCOR recently announced gross gaming revenue for Philippines’ Q2 financial results, which amounted to PHP 89.23bn (US$1.56bn). It was 32.3% higher year-on-year and a 9.21% increase compared to this year’s first-quarter revenue of PHP81.70bn. 

The increase was attributed to the e-games sector, which recorded a significant 525% increase from the PHP4.93bn record year-on-year.