The Philippines’ Finance Department has deferred its initial plans to sell government-operated casinos by the end of the year.

Instead, The Manila Bulletin reported that Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III eyes the privatization of state-run casinos by the first quarter of 2018. To make the sale more appealing, Dominguez said that 17 casinos will be put on the auction block.

One of the Philippine Amusement Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR)-run casinos that will be privatized by next year is the Fort Ilocandia casino in Laoag, Ilocos Norte, which is located at the northernmost part of the Philippines.

“We are working on the Pagcor deal, the first item is those casinos being operated directly by Pagcor, I think those should be privatized first,” Dominguez said, according to the news report. “We don’t have the valuation yet, it is very difficult because the data on operations are not robust, what I am saying is that we should figure it first by capacity. How many tables they have, or how many visitors did they have last year, what’s the projection, etc.”