Philippines’ casinos vie for survival as PAGCOR approves their online operations

PAGCOR President and COO Alfredo Lim confirmed that the regulator received applications of three casinos in Manila’s Entertainment city gaming zone for ‘betting through the internet’

The Philippine Regulator PAGCOR has granted permission for Manila’s land-based casinos to accept bets online. This move is aimed at helping operators mitigate losses caused by COVID-19. So far the approved applications are for Bloomberry Resort Corp.’s Solaire Resort and Casino, City of Dreams Manila, and Okada Manila; all Integrated Resort Casinos located in the city.

As soon as the move online was announced, operator’s shares rose. Bloombery saw a 4.2% rise while shares of Premium Leisure Corp, the company earning shares from City of Dreams Manila, jumped 6.3%. Belle Corp, parent of Premium Leisure also saw a rise of 2%.

Richard Lanela, analyst at COL Financial Group Inc, was quoted by Bloomberg stating that with the help of this latest provision, Manila’s IRs will “survive and get through the pandemic until they are allowed by government to fully operate. This is a way for them to earn some revenue.”

Philippine’s casinos combined, saw a 95.7% decline in revenue in the second quarter of 2020. It is not yet clear weather Philippine residents will be allowed to gamble in these new online operations.

The regulator has been pushing a gradual land-based reopening as these casinos have been closed since last March. In August casinos in Manila were granted resumption of operations again and at the moment casinos are operating at a 30% capacity. This saw huge losses for the land-based operators as well as for PAGCOR.

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