Pagcor reports P2.3 B income from gaming operations in November

MANILA, Philippines—The Philippines Amusement and Gaming Corp. reported P2.32 billion in income from gaming operations in the month of November, the biggest for the month ever recorded in the state-owned gaming company’s 25-year history.

In a press statement, Pagcor chair and CEO Cristino Naguiat, Jr. announced that the agency’s gaming income for November exceeded by 35.59 percent the
winnings for the same month in 2010.  Also exceeded was the target of P2.13 billion for the period and the P2.18 billion gaming income in the previous
month.

Naguiat attributed the robust result in November to a more aggressive campaign to improve Casino Filipino’s gaming operations and revitalize its marketing programs.

“We are beginning to complement the bullish performance of private licensed casinos. Competition is good for us. It only makes us more determined to
keep on implementing innovative ways on how to survive despite the fierce competition we are facing both on the local and international front,” Naguiat said.

November was also reported as a record-setting month for Pagcor’s slot machine operations nationwide.

“We generated P1.1 billion from our slots operations. This is by far the highest winnings we have earned from our slot machines. During the past 11 months of the year, our slots income accounted for more than 50 percent of our total gaming income – sometimes even surpassing earnings from our gaming tables,” Naguiat said.

He attributed the significant rise in slots earnings to the installation of popular and top-of-the-line slot machines in different Casino Filipino branches and arcades nationwide.

“We are getting better in our gaming mix. We hope to continue this momentum, with the hope of eventually tapping more foreign tourists to visit our casinos and arcades,” he said.

Apart from its own gaming operations, Pagcor also reported substantial revenues from other sources like licensed private casinos, poker, e-games, and commercial bingo. Earnings from these operations reached P894 million in November, up by P103 million against the same period last year.

Given these results, Pagcor contributed a total of P1.6 billion to nation-building projects for the month.  This was half a billion pesos bigger than the amount contributed in the same month last year.

For November, Pagcor will remit P1.1 billion to the National Treasury, 36 percent more than the remittance for the same month last year.

The agency’s contributions to the Philippine Sports Commission also increased from P40.71 million to P55.19 million.

The biggest increase in contribution was for direct assistance to various socio-civic projects where Pagcor remitted P159 million more (from P23 million to P182 million). Remittance to the President’s Social Fund likewise grew by P47 million (from P53 million to P100 million).

Apart from its mandatory contributions to nation-building, Pagcor said it had set aside substantial funding for its various corporate social responsibility programs. Among these were the P1 billion funding for the construction of 1,000 classrooms nationwide under the “Matuwid na Daan sa Silid Aralan” project in partnership with the Department of Education, and the P100 million funding for the P-Noy Bayanihan project which aims to manufacture school furniture from confiscated logs in partnership with Technical Education and Development Authority  and the  Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

Under its “Pamaskong Handog ng Pagcor 2011: 25 Days of Christmas, 25 Years of Pagcor,” the agency has launched a nationwide gift-giving project that
aims to help more than 7,000 poor people under the care of 36 charitable institutions.

“Instead of Pagcor spending lavishly for its silver anniversary celebration, we opted to allocate P25 million for our Pamaskong Handog project as our way of paying forward the blessings that Pagcor has received all these years,” Naguiat said.

Among the biggest recipients of this gift-giving program was the Philippine Army, which got a P4.51 million d for the procurement of modern hospital equipment for three of its hospitals; the Philippine National Police General Hospital which was given a P4 million to purchase hospital equipment; the Project Brave Kids Foundation and the Philippine Foundation for Breast Care, Inc. which received P1.5 million and P1.1 million, respectively, for the benefit of their indigent cancer patients.