In his welcome address at the Philippine Hotel Connect 2025 on Thursday, July 24, PAGCOR Chairman and CEO Alejandro H. Tengco said the country’s IR casinos accounted for nearly half of the local gaming industry’s total GGR of Php215 billion from January to June this year.

“Of the Php93.36 billion generated by the integrated resort casinos, Php16 billion was paid to PAGCOR as license fees, ensuring funding for government social services and driving the country’s economic growth,” Chairman Tengco said.

The PAGCOR chief noted that aside from contributing to government revenues, integrated resort casinos also helped position the Philippines as a competitive tourism destination.

“We have seen time and again how a thriving hospitality sector can drive employment, fuel trade, revive local enterprises, and bridge communities,” he said. “And nowhere is this more evident than in the huge tourism contributions from our licensed integrated resort casinos within and outside Metro Manila.”

Aside from paying billions in license fees, the country’s integrated resort casinos also provide significant funding support to key government institutions – including the health, education, and military sectors – through their cultural foundations.

“Their contributions are concrete examples of how tourism, hospitality, and gaming – when aligned and responsibly managed – become a catalyst for national resilience and progress.”

But alongside the gaming industry’s strong performance, Mr. Tengco emphasized the need to safeguard its growth through effective regulation and responsible gaming practices.

He underscored PAGCOR’s recent move to remove gambling advertisements from areas frequented by minors and its memorandum of understanding with the Ad Standards Council to implement stricter gaming advertising guidelines.

As the gaming industry expands, so must our safeguards,” he said. “Hence, we have taken a firm stance against the proliferation of illegal and unregulated gaming operations that offer no safety nets or protection to players and, more importantly, no remittance or any form of revenue to the government.”

Mr. Tengco called for continued collaboration between government and the private sector to maintain the momentum of tourism recovery and long-term economic gains.

“The success of Philippine tourism is a shared journey between regulators and investors, between public ambition and private innovation,” he said. “PAGCOR will continue to walk side by side with our partners in building a globally competitive yet distinctly Filipino tourism and gaming industries.”

Organized by the Philippine Hotel Owners Association, the Philippine Hotel Connect 2025 gathered tourism and hospitality leaders to foster collaboration, discuss global and regional tourism insights and opportunities, emerging trends, among others.