Operator News
Philippines – Philippines’ casinos six per cent GGR increase
By Phil - 23 October 2017
The casino sector in the Philippines has reported that GGR increased year-on-year in the second quarter of 2017 by 6.5 per cent, surpassing P39.1bn (US$759m).
The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) said that online gaming generated a further P6.2bn giving a combined total of P45.3bn.
The new casino resorts in Manila’s Entertainment City, including City of Dreams Manila, Okada Manila, Resorts World Manila and Solaire Resort and Casino, accounted for $550m of that total, marking a 26 per cent year-over-year increase whilst Pagcor’s fully owned casinos dropped by 6.1 per cent in the second quarter. During the half year PAGCOR’s 13 Casino Filipino locations and 35 satellite gaming facilities generated GGR of $160m, up 4.5 per cent.
Morgan Stanley believes that GGR for three Manila casino resorts, excluding Okada Manila, could fall by up to 10 per cent quarter-on-quarter.
“Yet, year-on-year EBITDA growth of 27 per cent for Bloomberry and 21 percent for Melco remain strong,” analysts Alex Poon and Praveen Choudhary explained. “GGR [at Resorts World Manila] could be down nine per cent quarter-on-quarter, mainly owing to removal of VIP and mass tables on second floor. We cite stronger seasonality (Christmas), ramp up of Okada [Manila] (mainly VIP), and normalisation of VIP luck.”
Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has said that PAGCOR must sell off its land-based casinos and cease being an operator.
Bloomberry Chairman Enrique Razon, whose company owns Solaire, of the sale: “If Macau companies came to try and buy the licenses, we would try to compete with them to buy the licenses.”
