State-run Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (Pagcor) reported total expenses of nearly PHP15.64 billion (US$266.7 million) for the first six months of 2024. The result was up 26.8 percent from the prior-year period, according to a financial statement posted on its website on Monday.

Costs related with personnel services stood at PHP9.28 billion in the six months to June 30, 28.1-percent higher from a year earlier. Maintenance and other operating expenses rose by 52.5 percent year-on-year, to PHP5.39 billion.

Expenses grew as the gaming regulator-cum-operator reported higher revenues for the period.

Pagcor’s first-half gross revenues totalled PHP51.76 billion, up 42.9 percent from a year ago. The regulator reported net income of just under PHP6.57 billion for the first six months of 2024, up 121.5 percent from a year earlier.

Gaming operations contributed the bulk of the agency’s revenues at PHP45.39 billion. Of that amount, 45.5 percent – or PHP20.66 billion – was generated by the electronically-delivered gaming sector, such as “e-Bingo, e-Games and bingo grantees,” according to Pagcor.

The country’s licensed commercial-sector casinos brought in PHP16.06 billion, or about 35.4 percent of Pagcor’s first-half revenues.

Pagcor said earlier this month that the Philippine gaming sector – including non-casino operations – produced gross gaming revenue (GGR) of just above PHP194.74 billion in the six months to June 30, up 19.21 percent from a year ago.

On July 22, the Philippine leader, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, said that Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) – now known as Internet Gaming Licensees (IGLs) – would need to end their business in that country by year-end.