MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine gaming industry suffered a double-digit drop in revenues during the first quarter of 2026, as an international oil shock weakened global consumer sentiment and severely crimped local discretionary spending. The country’s Gross Gaming Revenues (GGR) shrank across major electronic and land-based platforms, squeezing institutional profit margins.
Data compiled by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) shows that local GGR dropped 15.87 percent, sliding down to ₱87.6 billion during the initial three months of the year.
PAGCOR Chair and CEO Alejandro Tengco clarified that macroeconomic turbulence stemming from ongoing geopolitical warfare in the Middle East has directly disrupted international gaming markets:
- The Discretionary Pinch: Skyrocketing global oil prices quickly translated into steep domestic inflationary pressures at home, forcing consumers to tighten their household budgets and reduce recreational and entertainment expenses.
- Mobility Obstacles: High transit costs and the broader geopolitical cloud have weighed heavily on international player mobility, limiting the arrivals of high-value foreign VIP rollers to integrated local resorts.
- Net Income Crash: The revenue contraction hit the state regulator’s bottom line hard. PAGCOR’s net income plunged by 75.4 percent, crashing down to ₱1.03 billion from the ₱4.22 billion recorded during the same first-quarter window last year.
The Q1 revenue decline reversed massive prior growth cycles, hitting the digital entertainment market with unexpected severity:
| Gaming Segment | Q1 2026 Revenue Performance | Market Share | Notes / Macro Impact |
| Licensed Casinos | ₱44.52 Billion | 50.82% | Remains the largest overall source of revenue; heavily exposed to VIP volume drops. |
| Electronic Gaming | ₱39.9 Billion | 45.55% | Dropped 22.43% y-o-y; completely reverses last year’s historic surge over land casinos. |
| PAGCOR-Operated | ₱3.17 Billion | 3.63% | Continues a slow, structural decline amid ongoing state-led privatization pushes. |
The macro economic slowdown is visibly rippling through major local operators inside Entertainment City. Just days prior, Razon-led Bloomberry Resorts Corp. disclosed that it had swung to a deep ₱125-million net loss for the first quarter of 2026, completely wiping out the ₱3.3-billion net income logged during the same period in 2025.
Bloomberry’s total GGR fell 13 percent to ₱14.7 billion, dragged down by an aggressive 39-percent collapse in VIP rolling chip volumes at its flagship Solaire Resort Entertainment City property.
Despite the rocky financial start to the fiscal year, PAGCOR leadership remains confident of a swift domestic rebound. Tengco emphasized that the underlying infrastructure of the Philippine gaming market remains highly stable, and revenues are projected to recover rapidly once global energy logistics settle and consumer spending capacity normalizes.
