State gaming firm Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR) achieved a 42.57 percent increase in its total income in the first three months as e-games and licensed casinos surged in the country.

In an emailed statement over the weekend, PAGCOR reported a record in income from gaming operations of P25.24 billion during the first quarter, after expenses for the quarter climbed by 54.22 percent to P12.32 billion.

During the first quarter, gaming operations brought in P22.29 billion, with P9.69 billion from e-games like eBingo, eGames, and Bingo grantees and P8.04 billion from licensed casinos. 

Offshore gaming operations, on the other hand, brought in P860.89 million, or 3.86 percent of the total gaming income for the quarter.

“We are happy to announce that PAGCOR is able to sustain our growth trajectory in the first quarter of 2024 and this should help position us into achieving another record-breaking year,” PAGCOR chairman and CEO Alejandro Tengco said.

Major revenues source

“As we said earlier, the e-games sector will be our major source of gaming revenues this year and in the next few years as innovation and technological integration allows the sector to offer more excitement and convenience to gamers,” Tengco added.

The agency did say, though, that sales from PAGCOR-run casinos under the Casino Filipino brand dropped to P3.7 billion, a 20.68 percent drop from the first quarter’s sales.

In 2017, PAGCOR said it would no longer run self-operated casinos but instead take on a purely regulatory role.

As part of its job, PAGCOR is supposed to oversee the gaming industry, bring in money for the Philippine government’s national and social development projects, and help boost the tourism industry. It thinks that these kinds of plans will bring in at least P60 billion to P80 billion.