PAGCOR projecting flat GGR on caution over stagnant tourism

GROSS GAMING REVENUE (GGR) is expected to be flat this year on caution over tourist arrivals, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR) said.

“GGR will be flat primarily because as of now, we’re still looking at the effects of the (declining) number of tourist arrivals,” PAGCOR Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Alejandro H. Tengco told BusinessWorld on the sidelines of a Senate hearing on Wednesday.

Gambling operations generated about P400 billion in 2025, Mr. Tengco said, compared with the P372.33 billion collected by PAGCOR a year earlier. He did not provide a breakdown.

He added that any upside on the tourism front will come from visa-free status granted to visitors from China and India.

“We’re getting a feel for things because who knows, with the visa-free (entry) for Indians and Chinese now, we might see an influx of tourists again,” he said.

Tourist arrivals totaled 6.48 million last year, up 0.76% according to the Department of Tourism.

He added that online gaming income is also expected to hold steady as regulators assess the impact of the central bank’s order requiring e-wallet providers to remove in-app links to gambling sites.

“With regard to online, I also want to be conservative and say it’s also flat. Primarily because we have not yet seen the long-term effect of de-linking,” Mr. Tengco said.

During a Senate hearing on online gambling, Senator Sherwin T. Gatchalian, citing PAGCOR data, said registered online gambling users quadrupled to 32.12 million from their 2024 levels.

Mr. Gatchalian noted that the number was concerning as “because more than half of our adult population is gambling.”

Mr. Tengco clarified that the actual number of active players logged in 2025 was 10 million, noting that a crackdown on illegal online gaming operations is continuing.

“There have been feelers from illegals wanting to become legal, if they come legal obviously our revenue will grow,” he added.

He said that PAGCOR is preparing a position paper to propose reversing the central bank’s de-linking order.

“We’re actually putting it together. By March we will be able to come up with a recommendation to the Banko Sentral about the possibility of maybe looking or studying (a reversal),” he added. 

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas last year ordered all electronic wallets (e-wallets), banks and other supervised institutions to remove in-app links to online gambling websites, following calls to either regulate or ban the industry outright.

“When everything settles and the industry is more mature, then we can also consider payment channels that are properly regulated and monitored,” Mr. Tengco said.

Asked to comment, Filomeno S. Sta. Ana III, coordinator of Action for Economic Reforms, said the industry should be taxed higher to discourage gambling.

“We should not be relying on gaming revenue. The main purpose of taxing gambling is not to earn revenue, which would suggest that we are encouraging gambling,” he said via Viber.

President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. has identified laws on online gambling as priority measures, following a Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council meeting. — Adrian H. Halili