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Casino closure may cost PAGCOR upto $118M a month

The COVID-19 pandemic is getting severe day after day. The number only keeps shooting up despite the government taking strict measures. Half of the world is in the state of lockdown with USA, China, Italy and other regions hit hard by the deadly virus. Public gathering, private firms and educational institutes, casinos have been forced shutdown.

The temporary shutdown has majorly hit the casino industry and one of the is the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR), the casino regulator in Philippines. The country’s leader President Rodrigo Duterte had declared a state of public health emergency and on 16 March, the main island Luzon had been under “enhanced community quarantine” to curb COVID-19 cases in the country.

The PAGCOR casino is losing $118 million per month in revenue while the nation’s casinos remain close. “On the average, Pagcor is losing PHP5 billion ($98.3 million) to PHP6 billion a month as the enhanced community quarantine is being imposed in Metro Manila and other major cities nationwide.” he regulator said in a Monday press release.

POGCOR said that on 15 March all land-based casinos, eGames, bingo, poker, slot machines were shut and on 18 March extended the suspension order to Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) and their service providers. On Monday, PAGCOR stated, “Despite these losses, the country’s gaming regulator and operator has remitted a total of PHP20.5 billion to the national government to help cushion the impact of Covid-19 in the country.”

PAGCOR Chairman and CEO Andrea Domingoalso said that at the coronavirus outbreak in the country, PAGCOR did its part by banning crowd gatherings through closure of all gaming facilities even “if it meant an adverse effect on its earnings. The entire Philippine gaming industry will suffer but the people’s safety is of paramount importance – the employees, the customers and the public as a whole.”

PAGCOR’s closure is set to run until 14 April 2020 as right now, there are over 2,000 positive cases and 26 deaths in the country. For more updates on casino industry around the world, keep reading GutshotMagazine.com and stay tuned!

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