15 percent growth for the Philippines’ GGR in 2023

Analysts at Maybank say that the Philippines’ gross gaming revenue (GGR) in 2023 could increase 15 percent over the medium term, “driven by domestic demand”, maintaining their positive outlook for the country’s gaming growth.

In a recent report published in the GGR Asia Newsletter, analysts Miguel Sevidal and Alexa Mae Carvajal maintained their positive views on the Philippine gaming sector as they anticipated sustained growth in the domestic demand-driven mass market.

The casino sector amounted to 59 percent of the total industry GGR in the first quarter of 2023, reinforcing the Philippines as a domestic demand-driven market.

The analysts said that mass and slots GGR have further room to grow, as evidenced by the country’s below-average GGR per capita and the increasing wallet share of Entertainment City casinos. Entertainment City, also known as E-City is a gaming and entertainment resort cluster in the capital Manila, where some of the country’s large-scale casino resorts are located.

Maybank expects the S. Korean VIP segment to boost industry GGR, despite not being the main growth driver. The report claims that visitors from South Korea are responsible for the VIP segment’s recovery, and this trend is expected to stay, with Korean tourist arrivals reaching 552,000 in May 2023. These arrivals have helped to offset the dwindling numbers of Chinese tourist arrivals, which in May 2023 were only 12 % of the arrivals for the same 2019 period.

Available data showed that the Philippine casino sector produced GGR of P59.26 billion (US$1.07 billion) in the first quarter, 80.9 percent higher year on year.

Gambling in the Philippines

Gambling in the Philippines has been present in the country since at least the sixteenth century. Various legal and illegal forms of gambling are found almost all over the archipelago.

The government manages gambling through the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR). PAGCOR is a state-owned enterprise that operates a number of individual casinos and acts as a regulator to privately owned casino operators.

Last December, PAGCOR senior officials welcomed a delegation from SiGMA Group in Manila in preparation for SIGMA Asia happening in July. The SiGMA Asia International summit will be the first under the new chairman of PAGCOR, Alejandro H. Tengco. In her keynote in 2020, Andrea Domingo, PAGCOR’s previous chairperson and CEO had expressed her appreciation for SiGMA’s unwavering commitment to Asia. Watch her keynote during the SiGMA Asia (Digital) Summit 2020 here.

Interested in iGaming? SiGMA is coming to Manila, The Philippines

Join us in Manila from the 19 -22 July for the SiGMA Asia International summit. The event is endorsed by PAGCOR and will take place at the SMX, Manila’s largest expo centre.