Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. expects full-ayear net profit to plunge to less than P5 billion from P17.46 billion last year, as weaker gaming revenues, economic shocks, and the cost of running its own casinos squeeze the state gaming regulator’s earnings.
The pressure is coming from both sides of PAGCOR’s business. Gaming revenues have weakened as slower economic growth and higher consumer prices curb discretionary spending, while its community-based Casino Filipino operations continue to absorb cash through salaries, benefits, and other operating costs.
PAGCOR is also facing a substantially larger payment to the Philippine Sports Commission following a Supreme Court ruling, adding nearly P4 billion to the year’s expenses.
“For 2026, we’re looking at maybe less than P5 billion, way lower (than last year), primarily because we were hit by a few things. Number 1, the Supreme Court ruling against us on the Philippine Sports Commission,” PAGCOR chairman and CEO Alejandro Tengco said.
“PAGCOR now is paying 5 percent from the top, so that’s an additional, close to P4 billion.”
Before the ruling, PAGCOR said it had been remitting about P180 million a month to the PSC. The amount has since risen to more than P400 million a month.
Tengco said slower economic growth, coupled with higher consumer prices driven largely by rising fuel costs following the conflict in the Middle East, had weighed on both traditional casinos and online gaming operations.
The first-half numbers already showed the strain. PAGCOR revenue fell 27 percent to P43.33 billion, while net income plunged 85 percent to P1.59 billion as gaming income weakened.
Then there is Casino Filipino, which has become a problem of a different sort. While PAGCOR earns from gaming, it also carries the salaries, benefits, and operating costs of the casinos it owns and runs.
Tengco said the continuing losses made the planned separation of PAGCOR’s regulatory and commercial functions increasingly important to the agency’s financial future.
Under the proposed decoupling, PAGCOR would privatize its 12 wholly owned Casino Filipino properties and sell or transfer its interests in 23 licensed casinos where it currently receives a share of gross gaming revenue.
Tengco expects the sale to raise at least P20 billion while removing the burden of running the casinos. He estimates the Casino Filipino operations could drain about P7 billion from PAGCOR this year alone.
Severance costs would primarily be covered by the employees’ retirement fund, with any shortfall sourced from proceeds of the casino privatization.
The trade-off is straightforward enough, at least on paper. PAGCOR would surrender part of its gaming revenue but shed billions of pesos in operating expenses while retaining a 25-percent licensing fee on gross gaming revenue, at least 10 percentage points below its current share.
For PAGCOR, that could be a worthwhile exchange. In a year when revenue is falling and expenses are stubbornly high, earning less from casinos may make more sense than continuing to pay more to keep them open.
