The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) is looking at a P40.8 billion ($881.3 million) total gaming revenue for 2015, but the projection is expected to accelerate next year when the City of Dreams enters full operations.
The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) is projecting a small rise in revenue for 2015, but promises that things will be better next year when Melco Crown Entertainment’s City of Dreams Manila enters full operations.
Pagcor Chairman and CEO Cristino Naguiat Jr. told local lawmakers the gaming authority is looking at a P40.8 billion ($881.3 million) in total revenues for this year, Business Mirror reported Tuesday.
The state-run gaming firm reported a net income of P293.1 million ($6.33 million) for June 2015, which it said is an increase of more than 200 percent compared to the P96 million ($2.07 million) income from the same period last year.
Naguiat said the agency’s glowing performance can be attributed to the increase in gaming revenues and reduced daily expenses.
“We are happy to report that our gaming operations enabled us to generate gross revenues of P3.47 billion ($74.9 million) for June 2015 alone. This amount reflects a substantial increase of P423.83 million ($9.15 million) or 13.91 percent compared to June 2014,” Naguiat said in a statement.
Things will be even better next year, with Pagcor banking on the City of Dreams Manila going into full operations to rake in at least P42.4 billion ($915.8 million).
Media outlet Business World quoted Pagcor President and COO Jorge Sarmiento saying, “When the operations of the City of Dreams becomes full-pledged and the market improves, we feel that there’s a chance to build on that target.”
Pagcor should probably place its bets somewhere else. Early this week, reports emerged that the newly opened casino operator had to let go of some of its workers as part of “cost rationalization” after it suffered net loss in the first half of 2015 mainly due to higher costs and lack of Chinese VIPs.
City of Dreams Manila is Melco Crown Entertainment’s first foray outside of Macau. The casino resort features VIP and mass-market gaming facilities with capacity for 380 gaming tables, 1,700 slot machines and 1,700 electronic table games, while its non-gaming offerings include hotel, retail, food and beverage and entertainment facilities.
But the integrated resort has been performing poorly. Melco said City of Dreams Manila generated revenue of $75 million and earnings of $12.5 million in its first full quarter of operations. VIP turnover was reported at $495.8 million, mass table drop was $116.6 million, slots handle was $465.1 million and non-gaming revenue came to $28.6 million.
City of Dreams Manila is the second of the four integrated casino resorts in Pagcor’s 120-hectare development project Entertainment City, following Bloomberry Resort Corp’s Solaire Resort and Casino.
The third project, Tiger Resorts’ Manila Bay Resorts is scheduled to open in December 2016; and the fourth project, Genting Group and Alliance Global Group’s Resorts World Bayshore is expected to be completed by 2018.
