Nearly two months have passed since the attempted robbery at Resorts World Manila, which tragically ended in the death of 37 people.
While the gaming industry of this southeast Asian country is still recovering from all of this, the Philippine gambling authority, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR), released its report for the first half of the year.
Numbers Going Up
Despite the tragic events in Manilla, the sector has a reason to be positive, since it managed to record an increase of 25% when compared to the first six months of 2016.
When it comes to income from gaming operations, over the period of six months the casinos in the Philippines recorded a jump of 8.3%, while the gross gaming revenue (GGR) reached a sum of $557.4 million. From January 1 to June 30, the casinos paid $291.5 million in taxes.
After the Resorts World attack on June 2, the casino was closed for nearly four weeks and reopened on June 29. During this period, daily revenue recorded a significant drop, falling by between $236,370 and $275,700 on a daily basis.
More Problems For PAGCOR
Philippine gaming regulator has also issued a statement regarding individuals posing as PAGCOR employees, responsible for defrauding various business establishments.
According to PAGCOR and based on a number of recent reports, those individuals used the Corporation's name in their fraudulent scheme to obtain money from their unsuspecting victims.
In the statement, PAGCOR said that many of the victims had deposited huge sums of money to the suspects' account, while some had even received false PAGCOR-issued cheques. The owners of the establishments were often promised huge contracts and projects from PAGCOR.
The Corporation, which today has more than 11,000 employees, stated that it adhered to a legitimate procurement process, and didn't engage in private business transactions. PAGCOR added this process was conducted exclusively through public bidding.
The government-owned and controlled gambling watchdog stated that no individual could facilitate deals in its name and urged everyone to report any fraudulent activities to authorities.
