The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. continues to enjoy an upward income trend, posting a phenomenal P3.67 billion gross income in March 2012, a press release from PAGCOR said.

This is the 10th time under its new management that PAGCOR broke its previous monthly income record, the press release said.

PAGCOR chairman and CEO Cristino Naguiat Jr., reported that the agency's March income “was P686 million higher compared to the P2.98 billion earnings in March 2011. It was also much better than our P3.56 billion target for March by P109 million, and far better by P104 million against our P3.56 billion gross income last February.”

Naguiat, said that this is “PAGCOR's highest total income ever posted for a single month since the Philippine government went into the direct management of casino operations 26 years ago.”

Income from PAGCOR's own gaming operations in March 2012 reached P2.49 billion, which was a P526-million increase compared to the same period in 2011, the press release said.

“Our upbeat operations during the quarter got an added boost from the strong performance of the other gaming establishments we regulate like the private licensed casinos, e-games, commercial bingo and poker clubs. They contributed P1.17 billion to our March 2012 earnings, higher by P160 million compared to the same month last year,” Naguiat noted.

PAGCOR's robust income performance enabled the corporation to increase its remittances to its mandated beneficiaries. “We were able to allocate a total of P1.85 billion as the agency's contribution to nation-building. This was P556 million or 43 percent over the P1.29 billion contributions we made in March 2011,” Naguiat said.

Among the recipients of PAGCOR's funding contributions in March were the Bureau of Internal Revenue (P125 million for the 5 percent franchise tax); the National Treasury (P1.18 billion); the Philippine Sports Commission (P59 million); cities hosting PAGCOR casinos (P41 million); the President's Social Fund (P200 million); socio-civic projects (P221 million); Board of Claims (P3.5 million); and contributions to the BIR in fringe benefits tax amounting to P13 million, the press release added.*

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