PAGCOR to further cut fees of betting platforms

September 11, 2024 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — State-run Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR) will further reduce remittance rates for online and on-site betting platforms at the onset of 2025 in a bid to encourage more investments in the gambling sector.

During the Inside Asian Gaming Summit on yesterday, PAGCOR chairman and CEO Alejandro Tengco said the gross gaming revenue (GGR) remittance rate of betting platforms would be slashed further starting Jan. 1, 2025.

As such, fees will be cut to 30 percent for brick-and-mortar licenses and a lower 25 percent for integrated resorts which are also involved in online gaming due to their more complex operations amid the need for infrastructure, foreign consultants and professional managers.

Currently, the rate is at 35 percent for both.

Since August 2022, PAGCOR has slowly lowered the rates from a high of 55 percent. The gaming agency last decreased the fees in April to settle at 35 percent.

Since his assumption as PAGCOR chief, Tengco said he observed that the underground market was doing better than the agency, prompting licensees to close shops as they could no longer compete.

“Before 55 percent of their GGR goes to us, only 45 percent is left with them and they still have the cost of operations, cost of lease, so most of them are closing. That’s why we gradually brought down the rates so we will be at par with the different jurisdictions,” Tengco told reporters.

“The numbers will show how successful the decision to reduce was. One, the closures of existing licenses were almost zero. And then, our revenue has grown at least eight times,” he said.

Tengco added that many unregistered operations have also come forward to become a licensee and legalize themselves.

For now, this would be the last reduction of remittance rate for Pagcor, but Tengco said the agency would continue to observe the market.

Tengco noted that the rate reduction would eventually boost the gaming agency’s licensing and regulatory revenues.

Last year, the industry’s GGR went up by 33 percent to hit a record P285.27 billion amid increased operational capacity.

Given a banner 2023, PAGCOR has set a higher target to reach another record P336.38 billion in GGR for 2024, up by 18 percent.