The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (PAGCOR), the gaming regulator and operator of some casinos in the Philippines, has suffered in 2020 because of COVID-19. Like everywhere else, the economy in the Philippines has taken a hit because of the global pandemic, and PAGCOR has only been able to watch as its revenue slid for the better part of the year. The good news is that it’s back on the positive side; the bad news is that it hasn’t been able to recover completely. 

According to financial data published by PAGCOR, its net income from gaming operations for the first three quarters of 2020 came in at $461.7 million, off 60% from what it reported for the same period last year. For all of its operations, the entity saw net income of just $2.74 million after having recorded $102.72 million in 2019. PAGCOR was forced to take a hit as virtually all of the casinos in the Philippines were forced to close for the second quarter of the year. 

In line with the revenue drops, regulatory fees paid to PAGCOR also fell 60%, reaching just $174.54 million. However, offshore gaming operators delivered just 6% less income to the entity, contributing $77.75 million to PAGCOR’s bottom line. That helped lessen the sting – albeit only slightly – of the $242.36 million it had to pay in gaming taxes and revenue. $218.38 million had to be given to the Philippines Bureau of the Treasury as part of its legal obligation to surrender 50% of its annual gross earnings to the government. 

On the bright side, the results for the three quarters showed improvement over what PAGCOR had seen in the first half of the year. It previously reported a loss of $32.5 million for the period in the second quarter as revenue dropped to $48.4 million, which means that the third quarter was able to produce a profit of around $35.3 million.