The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) ushered in 2012 with an impressive P600 million growth in its January gross income compared to the same month last year.

“We earned a P3.36 billion gross income last month. This was better by almost 22% compared to our January 2011 income of P2.76 billion,” announced PAGCOR Chairman and CEO Cristino Naguiat, Jr.

PAGCOR’s substantial income growth for January 2012 was brought about by the buoyant performance of its own gaming operations. “Our casinos, arcades and in-house bingo operations yielded a P505 million or 26% income growth compared to the same month last year. We also surpassed the January 2012 gaming income target of P2.38 billion operations by 3.07%,” Naguiat noted.

The PAGCOR Chief attributed the continuous increase in the Corporation’s revenue to the improved gaming mix in its casinos and the enhanced marketing and gaming offerings of the state-owned casinos nationwide.

“Our efforts to provide our patrons with better gaming and entertainment offerings are translating to higher revenues. We hope to continue this upward trend in the coming months as we continue to find ways on how to enhance the overall gaming experience of our customers,” Naguiat cited.

Apart from sourcing revenues from its own gaming operations, PAGCOR also generated P907 million from other income sources such as its income share from the operations of licensed casinos, e-games, poker and commercial bingo. “Our January 2012 share from this these other sources was 11.77% or P95.5 million better than the share PAGCOR received in January 2011,” Naguiat added.

The higher revenues last January translated to PAGCOR’s bigger contributions to nation-building. “Out of our P3.36 billion gross revenues for the month in review, we were able to allocate a total of P1.89 billion for our mandated beneficiaries. This was higher by P613 million compared to the P1.28 billion contributions to nation-building we made in the same month of 2011,” the PAGCOR Chief noted.

“Of the P1.89 billion contributions to nation-building, P1.16 billion went directly to the National Treasury as government share. We also remitted a total of P122 million to the BIR as franchise tax,” Naguiat added.

Other contributions made by PAGCOR last January 2012 are P58.27 million to the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC); P40.84 million to cities hosting PAGCOR casinos; P201 million to the President’s Social Fund; P305 million in support of various socio-civic projects; P1.29 million to victims of injustice through the Board of Claims; and P2.50 million as PAGCOR’s contribution to Special Laws.

As part of its major Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) projects, PAGCOR also earmarked a P1 billion funding for the “Matuwid na Landas sa Silid-Aralan” project. The funding will be used to construct 1,000 classrooms and 100 learning centers for kindergarten students and out-of-school youths in communities and provinces nationwide.

Apart from its mandatory contributions, PAGCOR also recently remitted P1 billion to the National Treasury through the Department of Finance. “PAGCOR became part of the Billionaires Club that remitted at least a billion to the National Treasury. Our peso billion remittance represents the dividends generated from PAGCOR’s net income last year. It is actually the first time in history that PAGCOR remitted a dividend to the national government,” Naguiat said.

According to Naguiat, PAGCOR is targeting to generate a little over P45 billion in total income this year. “That will be about 22% higher than our record-breaking income performance of P36.65 billion in 2011. We are optimistic that we are going to hit this target given the optimism prevailing not only in the Philippine gaming market but in the Asian gaming industry as well.”

Go back