NEWS
30
2020
Oct.
Asia News
Asia News
PAGCOR- Is there any Hope for 2021 ?
The ravaging COVID-19 epidemic in 2020 has wreaked havoc on the thriving gambling market. PAGCOR (Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation), which is in control of the casino market in the Philippines, has been actively searching for remedies to prevent the situation from getting worse. However, their efforts have had limited success.
According to the consolidated income statement issued by PAGCOR for the first quarter of 2020, profits for the quarter reached 777.4 million Pesos (around 15.3 million USD), which represents a dramatic drop of 49.9% over the same period in 2019. Due to the rapidly spreading coronavirus outbreak, all casinos in the Philippines were ordered to shut down on March 15. Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO), which hold licenses issued by PAGCOR, were also ordered to suspend all operations on March 18.
On top of that, PAGCOR had to pay gambling taxes and other contributions amounting to US$ 196.7 million (US$ 174.8 million of the total amount had to be handed over to the United States Department of the Treasury.)
PAGCOR, therefore, reduced its overall expenditures by 28.4% (around US$ 230 million) to limit its losses. The lion’s share of these savings pertained to social responsibility program expenses. If the epidemic hadn’t struck the country, a large portion of PAGCOR’s revenues would have been earmarked as social welfare contributions.
The Philippines currently has over 100,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and more than 2,000 deaths nationwide. The country ranks second to only Indonesia which has a total of 110,000 cases in terms of the number of infections and fatalities in Southeast Asia. The outbreak in the Philippines shows no signs of slowing down and no improvement is expected for the second half of 2021.
Data reference source
According to the consolidated income statement issued by PAGCOR for the first quarter of 2020, profits for the quarter reached 777.4 million Pesos (around 15.3 million USD), which represents a dramatic drop of 49.9% over the same period in 2019. Due to the rapidly spreading coronavirus outbreak, all casinos in the Philippines were ordered to shut down on March 15. Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO), which hold licenses issued by PAGCOR, were also ordered to suspend all operations on March 18.
On top of that, PAGCOR had to pay gambling taxes and other contributions amounting to US$ 196.7 million (US$ 174.8 million of the total amount had to be handed over to the United States Department of the Treasury.)
PAGCOR, therefore, reduced its overall expenditures by 28.4% (around US$ 230 million) to limit its losses. The lion’s share of these savings pertained to social responsibility program expenses. If the epidemic hadn’t struck the country, a large portion of PAGCOR’s revenues would have been earmarked as social welfare contributions.
The Philippines currently has over 100,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and more than 2,000 deaths nationwide. The country ranks second to only Indonesia which has a total of 110,000 cases in terms of the number of infections and fatalities in Southeast Asia. The outbreak in the Philippines shows no signs of slowing down and no improvement is expected for the second half of 2021.
Data reference source