PAGCOR donates additional P500 million for COVID-19 response

Mon | 03.16.2020 | 8:00 AM

As the Philippine government imposes more drastic measures to contain the spread of corona virus disease-2019 (COVID-19), the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) allocated an additional P500 million to support the efforts of the Department of Health (DOH) in combating the pandemic.

This amount is on top of the P2 billion COVID-19 fund, which PAGCOR remitted to the Socio-Civic Projects Fund of the Office of the President on March 11, 2020.

PAGCOR Chairman and CEO Andrea D. Domingo said that similar to the P2 billion donation, the additional funding will be used for the procurement of personal protective equipment of healthcare frontliners, additional operating expenses of the Bureau of Quarantine, and support for the tests being conducted by the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine.

“The number of COVID-19 infected Filipinos is on the rise. But while these numbers are still small compared to other countries, the government is already doing its best to stop the spread of the virus. PAGCOR, being one of the government’s strong partners in nation-building will help ensure that through our funding support, the healthcare sector as well as other frontline government agencies will have access to basic medical necessities that are needed to combat the disease,” she said.

Domingo added that for its part, the state-gaming regulator has likewise implemented drastic measures to help stop COVID-19 in the country by suspending all gaming operations in the National Capital Region (NCR), effective immediately.

The suspension will last for the duration of the NCR community quarantine imposed by the government. Meanwhile, all gaming venues outside NCR will likewise be suspended once their respective local government units declare community quarantine.

In 2019, PAGCOR recorded P75.8 billion in gaming revenues. Its biggest sources were slot machine operations, electronic bingo, table games operations, regulatory fees from the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operations and licensed casinos.

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