4 M foreign visitors patronized 15 PAGCOR-run casinos in ’03

Close to one-third (409,000) of the 2.2 million foreign tourists who visited the country last year played at the 15 PAGCOR-run casinos around the country.

PAGCOR study shows that the casino at the Manila Pavilion patronized mostly by the rich in Binondo contributed 35 to 38 percent to the Pagcor’s overall income for the last two decades.

The biggest dollar-earner however is the casino at the The Heritage Hotel Manila the favorite hangout of bigtime foreign players.

Some estimated 4 million local and foreign visitors who patronized PAGCOR-run casinos last year enjoyed not only gaming but exciting and entertaining shows asthe Philippine Amusement & Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR) strengthened its position as the third biggest revenue earner of the government after posting record-breaking revenues of R1.93 billion for July 2004 and an overall income of R12.75 billion for the first seven months of the year.

PAGCOR chairman Efraim C. Genuino said the gaming giant will now work even harder in enhancing its operations and improving its services to be able to respond more effectively to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s call to remedy the government’s huge budget deficit and ease the fiscal crisis.

“We thank President Arroyo for her trust and confidence in PAGCOR’s integrity and stability as government’s premier revenue-generating institution. We fully support her in her quest to make life better for all Filipinos by funding the delivery of high-impact socio-civic projects, especially those that will benefit the poorest sectors of our society,” Genuino stressed.

He disclosed that PAGCOR’s R12.75 billion income for the first seven months of 2004 is a dramatic 12 percent increase from the R11.38 billion achieved over the same period last year.

He expressed hopes that PAGCOR’s strong performance will enable the corporation to expand further in order to boost tourism and provide employment to a great number of Filipinos. “We hope PAGCOR’s record-breaking feat will spur recovery for the rest of the country’s economy,” Genuino said.

Industry observers said it is to the credit of President Arroyo that she has chosen a dedicated team to manage PAGCOR whose wise policies and sound business decisions have redounded to the good of the company.

With Genuino at the helm, PAGCOR’s income has reached heights never before imagined through efficient management policies, operational reforms and waste-cutting measures.

PAGCOR has posted a high annual growth rate for total income of 15.10 percent over the past 17 years, from 1987 to 2003. Its average monthly income has jumped to R1.8 billion this year from 1.2 billion income in year 2000.

Most of the foreign tourists and business executives who prefer to visit PAGCOR-run casinos are from South Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, the United States, People’s Republic of China, Taiwan and Europe.

Balikbayans, a bigger bunch of whom from the United States, Japan,and Korea, enjoy their visits to Casino Filipino (CF) branches in Tagaytay, Bacolod, Mactan and Cebu City.

On the other hand, local visitors from Cebu, Davao, Negros Oriental and Negros Occidental, Iligan City, Cagayan de Oro City and Zamboanga prefer to visit CFs—Pavilion, Heritage, Silahis and Parañaque, which are all in Metro Manila (national capital region. (YM)