{"id":104106,"date":"2019-05-02T13:37:03","date_gmt":"2019-05-02T20:37:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=104106"},"modified":"2019-05-02T13:37:03","modified_gmt":"2019-05-02T20:37:03","slug":"philippines-casino-regulator-delivers-federal-government-170m","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/philippines-casino-regulator-delivers-federal-government-170m\/","title":{"rendered":"Philippines Casino Regulator Delivers Federal Government $170M in First Quarter Taxes"},"content":{"rendered":"

PAGCOR, the Philippines casino regulator that also operates its own gaming venues, sent $170 million in taxes to the federal government for the first quarter of 2019.<\/p>\n

\"Philippines
Philippines casinos are flushing President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration with cash. (Image: Philippines Government)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation reported income from gaming operations totaled PHP18.27 billion ($353.5 million) for January through March. That’s a 15.6 percent gain on the same three-month period in 2018.<\/p>\n

\n

Federal law requires PAGCOR to share 50 percent of its gaming income with the government. After the five percent franchise tax and a PHP15 million ($289,177) donation to the Philippines Dangerous Drugs Board, President Rodrigo Duterte’s Bureau of the Treasury collected $170 million.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Net income after taxes came in at roughly $160 million, a 9.5 percent increase.<\/p>\n

Along with issuing licenses and regulating commercial casinos \u2013 resorts primarily found in Manila \u2013 PAGCOR owns and operates its own casinos under the Casino Filipino brand.<\/p>\n

Show Him the Money<\/b><\/h2>\n

Duterte has endured a contentious relationship with the gaming industry since taking office in June 2016. He initially viewed gambling as sinister as the illegal narcotics trade.<\/p>\n

\n

In 2016, the president directed law enforcement to crack down on underground gambling syndicates, and forced billionaire Roberto Ongpin to remove himself from PhilWeb \u2013 then the country’s largest e-gaming caf\u00e9 operator \u2013 because Duterte considered him an “oligarch” who “must be destroyed.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Duterte later eased his position on internet gambling, saying “pay the correct taxes, gamble until you die. I do not really care.”<\/p>\n

The president also directed PAGCOR to sell off its casinos and transition into a regulator-only capacity. He later changed that view after learning the eight Casino Filipino venues and nearly three dozen satellite facilities were simply too profitable to dissolve.<\/p>\n

Philippines casinos won $3.6 billion last year<\/a>, and the four integrated land-based casino resorts in Manila generated the lion’s share of the gross gaming revenue (GGR). City of Dreams, Solaire, Resorts World, and Okada won $2.71 billion. E-gaming parlors reported GGR of more than $500 million.<\/p>\n

Licenses Halted<\/b><\/h2>\n

The president later directed PAGCOR to make the Philippines “the top gaming and entertainment destination” in Southeast Asia by 2020.<\/p>\n

The federal agency began adhering to that task by issuing gaming licenses to various operators for multibillion-dollar resorts in Manila’s Entertainment City and other tourism-focused locales. And then yet again, Duterte changed his position on gaming.<\/p>\n

\n

PAGCOR had issued permits for Landing International to construct a $1.5 billion integrated resort, but last August Duterte ordered construction to be stopped just hours after the company held a ceremonial groundbreaking. The president said the developer obtained a land-lease deal that was “unconscionable” and “disadvantageous to the government.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Duterte additionally ordered Galaxy Entertainment stop its plans to build a $500 million casino resort on the vacation island of Boracay. He then issued a verbal decree that bans gaming from ever coming to the island.<\/p>\n

The president subsequently issued a moratorium on PAGCOR granting new gaming licenses<\/a>. Waterfront Philippines Inc, a company that has been trying to obtain licensure since 2015 for a casino in Manila, said this week it expects its legal case to reach the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PAGCOR, the Philippines casino regulator that also operates its own gaming venues, sent $170 million in taxes to the federal government for the first quarter of 2019. The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation reported income from gaming operations totaled PHP18.27 billion ($353.5 million) for January through March. That’s a 15.6 percent gain on the same […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":104111,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,10],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nPhilippines Casino Regulator Delivers Federal Government $170M in Q1<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"PAGCOR, the Philippines casino operator and regulator, sent $170 million in taxes to the federal government for the period running January through March.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Philippines Casino Regulator Delivers Federal Government $170M in Q1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"PAGCOR, the Philippines casino operator and regulator, sent $170 million in taxes to the federal government for the period running January through March.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/philippines-casino-regulator-delivers-federal-government-170m\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-05-02T20:37:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/duterte-Malacanang-20161229-009-rappler.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1312\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Devin O'Connor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@CasinoorgDevinO\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Devin O'Connor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/philippines-casino-regulator-delivers-federal-government-170m\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/philippines-casino-regulator-delivers-federal-government-170m\/\",\"name\":\"Philippines Casino Regulator Delivers Federal Government $170M in Q1\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/philippines-casino-regulator-delivers-federal-government-170m\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/philippines-casino-regulator-delivers-federal-government-170m\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/duterte-Malacanang-20161229-009-rappler.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-05-02T20:37:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-05-02T20:37:03+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/02b4fee8814a4003903b0021bffb4ebf\"},\"description\":\"PAGCOR, the Philippines casino operator and regulator, sent $170 million in taxes to the federal government for the period running January through March.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/philippines-casino-regulator-delivers-federal-government-170m\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/philippines-casino-regulator-delivers-federal-government-170m\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/philippines-casino-regulator-delivers-federal-government-170m\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/duterte-Malacanang-20161229-009-rappler.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/duterte-Malacanang-20161229-009-rappler.jpg\",\"width\":1312,\"height\":900,\"caption\":\"Philippines casinos are flushing President Rodrigo Duterte's administration with cash. 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