The many commercial and state-run casinos in the Philippines reportedly saw their aggregated gross gaming revenues for the final three months of 2021 increase by 21.7% year-on-year to reach approximately $554 million.

According to a report from GGRAsia citing official figures from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCor) regulator, this rise came as the government decided to begin easing a range of local coronavirus-related capacity and social distancing restrictions from November. The source additionally explained that the fourth-quarter resurgence took the full-year aggregated gross gaming revenues tally up by 12.4% year-on-year to around $1.8 billion although this was still 53% below the all-time high of some $3.8 billion set for 2018.

Prominent players:

The trio of Las Vegas-style resort casinos situated within the Entertainment City suburb of Manila were reportedly responsible for about 83.4% of the Philippines’ aggregated fourth-quarter gross gaming revenues at roughly $462.2 million. This figure from the Solaire Resort and Casino, City of Dreams Manila and Okada Manila properties purportedly equated to a swell of 23% quarter-on-quarter and is now likely set to grow even further after the government re-opened its borders to foreign tourists last month following an almost year-long ban.

Civic consolation:

Alongside being a regulator and state-owned PAGCor is reportedly moreover responsible for six Casino Filipino-branded properties and a chain of 33 satellite venues spread across the Philippines. This estate purportedly chalked up aggregated fourth-quarter gross gaming revenues of nearly $43.2 million, which represented a boost of 32.1% quarter-on-quarter.

The information from PAGCor reportedly furthermore showed that the regulator’s casinos had taken in slightly shy of $13 million in aggregated fourth-quarter gross gaming revenues from table games, which signified a lift of 38.4% quarter-on-quarter. The enterprise was purportedly also overjoyed to see its slot receipts for the three-month period increase by 51.7% to reach almost $28 million.

Static situation:

GGRAsia reported that the cluster of commercial casinos located within northern Luzon’s Clark Freeport Zone, which include the new Hann Casino Resort as well as the much smaller Fortunegate Casino Clark, saw their own aggregated fourth-quarter gross gaming revenues remain relatively flat when compared with the preceding three months at something like $44.7 million.

Reduced risks:

Finally, the source reported that metropolitan Manila was yesterday placed under the downgraded ‘Alert Level One’ coronavirus countermeasures regime, which meant that all local businesses were permitted to re-open at full capabilities. As such and casino operator Melco Resorts and Entertainment Limited purportedly later declared that its City of Dreams Manila development was now running at ‘100% capacity’.