PAGCOR income seen to drop 91%

Amid weak gambling activity

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR) is estimating a 91-percent decline in full-year net income this year, as the Middle East crisis and the removal of e-wallet links to online gambling platforms sapped gambling activity.

PAGCOR expects its net income to plunge by 91 percent to P1.66 billion in 2026 from the recorded P17.47 billion last year, the gaming regulator told lawmakers at a congressional budget hearing.

Total income is likewise estimated to drop by 18 percent to P86.95 billion this year from P106.03 billion in 2025.

PAGCOR chairman and CEO Alejandro Tengco attributed the weaker outlook partly to the delinking of online gaming platforms from e-wallets following a Senate request for the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas to implement the measure.

“After that was implemented, we had experienced a downtrend of about 40 percent in gaming activities because it’s not as easy as before when platforms were linked,” Tengco said.

Despite an uptick in gaming activity in the early months of 2026, it was tempered by the Middle East crisis, which struck both land-based casinos and online gaming.

Tengco said the Middle East crisis – which stoked consumer prices – hit mostly gamblers in the online sector or those that come from income classes C, D and E.

He said it was a good sign that tourist patronage of integrated resorts had started to pick up, with “a slight upward trend toward the end of July and early August.”

Despite this, Tengco is banking on the approaching peak gaming season to lift projected income.

“If that continues, and considering that the peak season for gaming activities is already coming up and referring to the last part of the year, hopefully, we’re able to recover the weakness in the first half towards the latter part of this year,” he said.

For 2027, the gaming regulator expects a rebound with the net income rising by 14.8 percent year-on-year to P1.91 billion.

Likewise, PAGCOR aims to generate total revenues of P88.34 billion and will allocate about P63 billion for nation-building activities.

Another possible pocket of income growth for the gaming regulator is the Special Class of Business Process Outsourcing, which can provide offshore services to casinos or operators, with an estimated P2.5 billion to P3 billion additional revenue this year.

This may also offset weak performance of land-based and online gaming segments, Tengco said.

At the same time, Tengco said PAGCOR faces an estimated P37-billion retroactive liability to the Philippine Sports Commission following a Supreme Court ruling requiring the agency to remit five percent of its gross annual income to the Philippine Sports Commission.

He said this is estimated to cost about P300 million to P400 million monthly.