Philippine casino GGR poss 85pct pre-pandemic by 4Q: MS

April 22, 2022 Philippines Earnings & Filings Industry Updates

Philippine casino industry gross gaming revenue (GGR) could reach 85 percent of pre-pandemic level by the fourth quarter this year, says banking group Morgan Stanley.

Factors in favour of Philippine growth included “travel reopening” in Southeast Asian countries in general during the second quarter, “and eased Covid control measures as of March 2022.”

In the case of the Philippines, “pent-up demand and election-induced consumption could provide upside to our estimates,” added analysts Gareth Leung and Praveen Choudhary, of Morgan Stanley Asia Ltd, in a Tuesday note, referring latterly to that country’s presidential election, due in early May.

In the first-quarter, for which most Philippine casino operators are still to report results, Morgan Stanley expects the large-scale private-sector gaming resorts – including Solaire Resort and Casino (pictured) – in the Entertainment City zone in Manila, to have generated in aggregate GGR of PHP27 billion (US$515 million).

That would be up 15 percent quarter-on-quarter, and equal to 68 percent of the pre-pandemic performance in the first quarter of 2019, said Morgan Stanley.

This would in likelihood have been “driven by stronger local demand recovery in mass and slot revenue,” i.e., a 17 percent quarterly improvement in those segments, and about 82 percent of what those segments generated in the first quarter of 2019.