PAGCOR is a 100 percent government-owned and controlled corporation under the Office of the President of the Republic of the Philippines.
The state-owned gaming firm was created during the Martial Law years by virtue of a Presidential Decree (PD) 1067-A issued by then President Ferdinand Marcos in response to calls for the Philippine government to put a stop to the growing proliferation of illegal casino operations in various parts of the country.
The law creating PAGCOR was later amended and consolidated under PD 1869 otherwise known as the PAGCOR Charter.
Under its Charter, PAGCOR was given a three-pronged mandate:
In June 2007, Republic Act No. 9487 was passed by the Philippine Congress, extending the corporate life of the state-run gaming firm by 25 years, renewable for another 25 years, and prescribing the following amendments to the PAGCOR Charter:
PAGCOR operates 9 casino branches in major cities across the country’s three major islands. Collectively called Casino Filipino, these branches are strategically located in areas that are popular tourist destinations:
PAGCOR operates 32 satellite casinos in major cities across the country’s three major islands. These satellite casinos are strategically located in areas that are popular tourist destinations:
In accordance with its Charter and other governing laws, PAGCOR's earnings are distributed as follows:
On February 20, 2019, President Rodrigo Duterte signed RA No. 11223, otherwise known as Universal Health Care (UHC) Act. Section 37.1b of the Implementing Rules and Regulations provides that 50% of the national government share from the gaming income of PAGCOR, as provided for in PD 1869, as amended, shall be transferred to Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (Philhealth) at the end of each quarter to fund the UHC subject to the usual budgeting, accounting and auditing rules and Philhealth regulations: Provided, further, that the funds shall be used by PhilHealth to improve its benefit packages.
PAGCOR religiously remits the 50% government share from its gaming revenue to the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) on a monthly basis.
PAGCOR also funds the Sports Incentives and Benefits Act, which provides monetary rewards to athletes and coaches who win in international sports competitions.
As a government-owned and controlled corporation, PAGCOR adheres to RA 7656, otherwise known as the Dividends Law. Thus, it remits at least 50% of its annual net earnings to the National Government as cash dividends.
On top of its mandatory remittances to various government entities, the state-run gaming firm has also been actively implementing major Corporate Social Responsibility projects under the leadership of its present management.