{"id":58338,"date":"2017-09-11T18:00:53","date_gmt":"2017-09-12T01:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=58338"},"modified":"2017-09-12T09:50:41","modified_gmt":"2017-09-12T16:50:41","slug":"philippines-begin-privatizing-pagcor-properties-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/philippines-begin-privatizing-pagcor-properties-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"Philippines to Begin Privatizing PAGCOR Properties in 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Philippine government will begin the sale of Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation\u2019s (PAGCOR) 17 casinos to private operators early next year, but privatization could take several years, the country\u2019s finance minister said this week.<\/p>\n

\"Philippines
Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III has acknowledged that PAGCOR status as an operator-regulator creates a conflict of interest and that a sell-off of state owned casinos is the best move for the Philippines. (Image: Manman Dejeto\/Rappler)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As the country\u2019s casino sector booms, driven by an influx of Chinese tourism to the Philippines\u2019s new, foreign-owned integrated resorts, PAGCOR\u2019s<\/a> status as an operator-regulator has become increasingly untenable, exposing it to accusations of conflict of interest from the new casino resort giants it\u2019s tasked with regulating.<\/p>\n

PAGCOR owns 46 casino properties nationwide and operates 17, including the \u201cCasino Filipino\u201d chain. It\u2019s one of the government\u2019s most lucrative state-owned companies, with gross gaming revenues of $275 million last year, half of which it turns over to the Treasury.<\/p>\n

Can\u2019t Beat \u2019Em, Sell \u2019Em<\/strong><\/h2>\n

But with the four foreign casino resorts in Entertainment City now accounting for way more than half of the country\u2019s entire casino revenue (and they aren\u2019t even complete), there\u2019s a sense that the government can no longer compete and that a sell-off is the best option. President Rodrigo Duterte<\/a> gave the nod for privatization last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow does a government-run casino compete with the privately run casinos?\u201d Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III asked this week. \u201cI think there is no way they can compete.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we don\u2019t privatize, they might actually lose their customers,\u201d he added. \u201cWe might as well do it now. And the revenue stream\u2026 that\u2019s why we have to analyze how much revenues come from their winnings as against how much of the revenues come from the fees that are being paid.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Dominguez believes the casinos being directly operated by PAGCOR will be the first to be privatized, but the procedure will take time. His department is currently engaged in the process of valuing each casino, which will be finished by the end of the year. Only then can a plan for privatization be developed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not going to happen overnight and the deals are quite complex so we have to piece it out and see what is the best deal for the government,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Dictator\u2019s Pet Project<\/strong><\/h2>\n

PAGCOR was created by Philippine dictator and kleptocrat Ferdinand Marcos in 1976 as part of a government intervention into the proliferation of illegal casinos and gambling clubs in the country.<\/p>\n

In 2008, the Arroyo government opted to break-up PAGCOR’s semi-monopoly and open the Philippine casino market to international operators in an effort to compete with the burgeoning gambling hubs of Macau and Singapore.<\/p>\n

The move gave rise to new special commercial zones, such as Newport City, close to the international airport, and the sprawling Entertainment City, and ushered a new era of spectacular and prosperous integrated resorts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Philippine government will begin the sale of Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation\u2019s (PAGCOR) 17 casinos to private operators early next year, but privatization could take several years, the country\u2019s finance minister said this week. As the country\u2019s casino sector booms, driven by an influx of Chinese tourism to the Philippines\u2019s new, foreign-owned integrated resorts, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":58341,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,10,18,61],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nPhilippines to Begin Privatizing PAGCOR Properties in 2018<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"PAGCOR casino properties will be sold off next year as the Philippine government accepts it cannot compete with foreign-owned integrated resorts.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/philippines-begin-privatizing-pagcor-properties-2018\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Philippines to Begin Privatizing PAGCOR Properties in 2018\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"PAGCOR casino properties will be sold off next year as the Philippine government accepts it cannot compete with foreign-owned integrated resorts.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/philippines-begin-privatizing-pagcor-properties-2018\/\" \/>\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=\"2017-09-12T01:00:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-09-12T16:50:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/carlos-sonny-dominguez-briefing-transmission-davao-20160512-002.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\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-begin-privatizing-pagcor-properties-2018\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/philippines-begin-privatizing-pagcor-properties-2018\/\",\"name\":\"Philippines to Begin Privatizing PAGCOR Properties in 2018\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/philippines-begin-privatizing-pagcor-properties-2018\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/philippines-begin-privatizing-pagcor-properties-2018\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/carlos-sonny-dominguez-briefing-transmission-davao-20160512-002.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-09-12T01:00:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-09-12T16:50:41+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c48bf89dc86da77b4d856c7b3b78d77\"},\"description\":\"PAGCOR casino properties will be sold off next year as the Philippine government accepts it cannot compete with foreign-owned integrated resorts.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/philippines-begin-privatizing-pagcor-properties-2018\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/philippines-begin-privatizing-pagcor-properties-2018\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/philippines-begin-privatizing-pagcor-properties-2018\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/carlos-sonny-dominguez-briefing-transmission-davao-20160512-002.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/carlos-sonny-dominguez-briefing-transmission-davao-20160512-002.jpg\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1280,\"caption\":\"Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III has acknowledged that Pagcor\u2019s status as an operator-regulator creates a conflict of interest and that a sell-off of state owned casinos is the best move for the Philippines. 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