Gross gaming revenues in the Philippines are expected to reach $5.2 billion to $5.9 billion this year, surpassing the $4.84 billion recorded in 2019 before the onset of the global health crisis, a consultancy firm said Tuesday.
GCG Gaming Advisory Services Pty Ltd. said in a report published in the GGR Asia Newsletter the forecast included non-casino bingo and electronic games parlors, and state-run casinos and commercial sector properties in Entertainment City Manila, Clark, Cebu and others.
It said Entertainment City venues would have the biggest annual share of GGR this year in the range of $3.6 billion to $4.0 billion.
A report by the state-run Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. showed that Entertainment City resorts produced P43.47 billion ($769.5 million) or about 76.8 percent of all industry GGR in the second quarter this year. It was 4.3 percent lower in sequential terms, but up 17.5 percent from a year earlier.
GCG Gaming said the sequential decline for Entertainment City was “of concern.” It attributed the decline to the market “being predominantly local and the US$2.4 billion drawn off those players over the past two quarters may have seen some regulars tapping out.”
It said the proposed opening in the fourth quarter 2024 of a casino hotel in the Westside City project in Entertainment City should see more players overall in the market. The new venue would be right in the middle of the Manila casino cluster formed by City of Dreams Manila, Solaire Resort and Casino and Okada Manila.
GCG Gaming Advisory said that while Newport World Resorts near Manila International Airport was an “outlier” relative to the other commercial resorts in the capital, it had “many more” hotel brands to offer compared to its competitors, and “a second, newer, casino floor located alongside the Sheraton and Hilton” hotel brands on site.
The cluster of commercial casinos in the Clark Freeport Zone is estimated as a $600-million to $700-million market in terms of casino GGR throughout 2023, it said.
Clark Freeport Zone had a commercial-casino cluster featuring Royce Hotel and Casino; Hann Casino Resort; D’Heights Resort and Casino; Midori Clark Hotel and Casino; Fontana Leisure Parks and Casino; and Capital Casino Clark.
“Hann, D’ Heights and Royce should be an estimated 75 percent of the potential $600 million to $700 million market. Other properties such as Fontana, Casino Plus, Capital and Midori are renovating and expanding to compete,” the consultancy firm said.
It said Cebu’s commercial-casino market—which includes NUSTAR Resort and Casino—might generate $70 million to $90 million GGR for 2023.
GCG Gaming Advisory said the Philippine casino market could achieve $10 billion in annual GGR by 2027, higher than the starting range of $8 billion projected by PAGCOR chairman Alejandro Tengco last week.