E-games sector share to PH's gaming revenues in 2023 beats pre-pandemic levels — PAGCOR

The Philippine electronic gaming sector saw its contribution to the country's entire gaming industry surpass pre-pandemic levels last year, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) said Tuesday.

In a statement, PAGCOR Chairman and CEO Alejandro Tengco said the e-gaming sector—which includes e-games, e-bingo, specialty games, and sports betting—contributed P58.16 billion to the country's gross gaming revenues (GGR) in 2023.

The e-games sector's share to last year's GGR surpassed the previous high of P32.24 billion seen in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak.

This was also 92.32% higher than the e-gaming sector's earnings of P30.24 billion recorded in 2022.

"There was a phenomenal rise of over 90% in online gaming activities in 2023 compared to the previous year," Tengco said.

The PAGCOR said the agency reached another milestone in 2023 with more than 1,000 licensed e-gaming sites.

"Because of the policy changes implemented by the current management, there was a considerable increase in gaming sites. We also approved reductions in [licensing] rates that contributed to the spike in approved sites," he said.

"The e-games sector's notable performance positively impacted not only the local gaming industry but also PAGCOR's revenue generation efforts," he added.

Tengco said policy tweaks, including further lowering licensing rates and the growing integration of technology in gaming, should allow the e-games sector to continue its growth trajectory with a projected P61.75 billion in revenues in 2024. — VDV, GMA Integrated News