Total gaming revenue (GGR) in the first half of 2024 for the Philippine gaming division, which includes non-casino businesses, rose 19.21% year-over-year to just over $19.74 billion ($3.34 billion) in PHP, according to a press release on Sunday from state-run Philippine Entertainment and Gaming Company (Pagcor).

The gaming regulator and operator reported a net profit of 6.56 billion PHP in the six months to June 30, up 121.48% year-over-year.

The announcement quoted Alejandro Tenko (pictured), chairman and chief executive of Pagcore, as saying its first-half results were "a testament to the positive results that reforms and tightened regulations are being implemented."

"Pagcor's solid net income growth translates to a greater contribution to the nation's construction," Tengco said. "We were able to transfer 31.82 billion PHP to the Treasury in the first six months, compared to 22.62 billion PHP in the same period last year."

Pagcor's total revenue for the first half of the year totaled 51.76 billion PHP, up 42.92% from a year ago.

Game operations accounted for the bulk of the institution's revenue, with 45.39 billion PHP, according to the release. Of this, 45.53% (20.66 billion PHP) was generated from electronic-based gaming segments such as "electronic bingo, electronic gaming and bingo recipients," Pagcor says.

The U.S.-sanctioned commercial-sector casino brought in 16.06 billion PHP, or about 35.44% of Pagcor's first-half revenue.

Pagcor said the publicly owned casino Philippine gaming arena chain's revenue exceeded 6.93 billion PHP (15.27% of its first-half total).

Tengco said the agency was "on track" to reach, or even break through, PHP 100 billion on a full-year basis for 2024 total revenue.

"With phenomenal sales growth in the e-Games segment and more players and investors expressing their intention to enter the Philippine market, we are confident that 2024 will be a real banner year for Pagcor," he said.

In early June, Mr. Tengko said the agency is set to cut rates again for local e-delivery game operators in January next year. 슬롯사이트 순위

In terms of GGR, licensed casinos were still the "biggest contributor" during the first half of 2024, with PHP generating $99.16 billion, Tenko said.

But Pagcor's boss described the e-Games sector as "domestic-led," which posted the highest growth rate in the period, and noted that it "understates the sector's unprecedented performance."

The electronic gaming division posted revenue of 63.01 billion PHP in the six months to June 30, up 208.4% year-over-year.

The Pagcor-run casino's first-half revenue fell 11.60% year-over-year to 8.89 billion PHP.