Pagcor remits 15% more

MANILA, Philippines - The government’s share from the revenues of Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) increased 15 percent in May to P1.17 billion.

Under Republic Act 7656 or the Dividend Law, Pagcor is mandated to remit at least 50 percent of its annual revenue to the Philippine government.

The state-run gaming firm expects to remit around P11.1 billion to the national coffers this year as revenues are seen to reach P42 billion given the strong showing of Solaire Resort and Casino which opened on March 16, as well as the improving operations of existing casinos.

Solaire, the first of four huge gaming complexes to rise on Pagcor’s sprawling Entertainment City, raked in revenues of P1.3 billion as of May this year, or only two and a half months since it started operations.

For this year, Pagcor sees the country’s gaming revenues hitting $2.5 billion this year, mainly driven by the opening of Solaire.

Pagcor has already generated over P107 billion in gross revenues from July 2010 to April 2013.  Of  that amount, at least P54 billions was remitted to the government as part of efforts to contribute to nation-building.

Just last month, Pagcor turned over more than P1.4 billion in cash dividends to the national coffers, bringing the state-run gaming firm’s total remittances to the National Treasury to over P7 billion to date.

Pagcor was among the 38 government-owned and controlled corporations which remitted cash dividends and other forms of contributions to the government, amounting to nearly P28 billion.  The amount was 45.8 percent higher than the P19.2 billion remitted in 2012.