PAGCOR to privatize casinos

The Philippine Government will sell casinos operated by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) as it plans to focus solely on their regulatory function, reported the Philippine Star.
Pagcor chair Andrea Domingo, said the funds to be raised from the privatizing casinos will help support the government’s proposed 3.35 trillion peso (US$72.11 billion) 2017 national budget.
As reported by the local publication, Domingo did not say how much the government will earn from the privatization of government casinos but she gave lawmakers an idea of the yearly revenues of government-owned casinos.
“Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez has told us to privatize Pagcor-owned casinos,” Domingo told legislators during a recent budget briefing at the Philippines’ House of Representatives. “We are now preparing the template for the planned privatization so we can maximise the benefits for the government,” she said.
Since the sale of Pagcor-run casinos will mean losing billions in earnings, Domingo said Pagcor will try to recoup the loss through other gaming projects, like offshore e-games strictly limited to foreigners.
Higher licence fee
Meanwhile, according to a report from the Manila Bulletin, Pagcor has ordered the four casinos at Entertainment City to immediately restore the 10 per cent licence fee cut granted to them by the previous administration.
The lowering of licence fees came in May 2014, after the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) imposed 30 per cent income tax on gaming companies. Before the reduction, Pagcor had originally proposed a 15 per cent share from casinos’ gross gaming revenues from high roller tables and junket operations and 25 per cent on gross gaming income from non-high roller tables, slot machines and electronic gaming machines.
Quoted by the publication, Domingo said the regulator had already notified the operators of the four casinos – Travellers International Hotel Group Inc., Bloomberry Resorts and Hotels Inc., MCE Leisure (Philippines) Corp., and Tiger Resorts Leisure and Entertainment Inc. – about the order.
Domingo said that gaming casino operators would have to honour their contract with Pagcor and pay the appropriate licence fees as agreed between the regulator and the private entities.
She added that Pagcor, a state-owned and controlled company, is mandated by law to follow the order by government auditors. “What’s in the contract should be followed and what the auditor is saying should be followed,” Domingo said.