E-gaming sales double last year

E-gaming sales double last year | Daily Tribune

The electronic gaming, or e-gaming, sector reported a banner 2023 as revenues nearly doubled year-on-year due to policy reforms, according to Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. chairman and CEO Alejandro Tengco.

Speaking during a panel interview at the ICE London 2024 Conference in London last 6 February, Tencgo said “there was a phenomenal rise of over 90 percent in online gaming activities in 2023 compared to the previous year.”

The e-gaming sector — which includes e-games, e-bingo, specialty games and sports betting — contributed P58.16 billion to gross gaming revenues, or GGR, in 2023, or 92.32 percent higher than its earnings of P30.24 billion the year before.

The e-games contribution to 2023 GGR is also a new record, surpassing the previous high of P32.24 billion posted in 2019 before the pandemic outbreak.

Global hub

The ICE London 2024 Conference is known as the Global Gaming Hub for all B2B industry experts that provides an ideal platform for gaming industry leaders to share their achievements, initiatives and vision for the future.

ICE historically stands for “International Casinos Exhibition” and serves as the premier destination for industry innovation, collaboration, and networking.

Earlier, Tengco said PAGCOR reached another milestone in 2023 with more than 1,000 licensed E-Gaming sites — with more applications in the pipeline.

“Because of the policy changes implemented by the current management, there was a considerable increase in gaming sites. We also approved reductions in licensing rates that contributed to the spike in approved sites,” he said.

“The E-Games sector’s notable performance positively impacted not only the local gaming industry but also PAGCOR’s revenue generation efforts,” Tengco said.

More policy tweaks — including further lowering licensing rates — and the growing integration of technology in gaming should allow the E-Games sector to continue fueling the growth of the local gaming industry with its projected P61.75 billion in revenues in 2024.