The Philippines’ land-based casino sector continues to face challenges from declining international visitation and the threat posed by the domestic online gaming sector. What can be done to boost tourist appeal and fully recognize the industry’s undoubted potential?
By now the headwinds facing the Philippines’ land-based gaming industry have been well documented. From a high of Php207.5 billion (US$3.37 billion) in gross gaming revenues from licensed casinos in 2023, GGR continued to slide – to Php201.8 billion (US$3.28 billion) in 2024 and considerably further to Php182.5 billion (US$2.97 billion) in 2025.
Based on the first two quarters of this year, the 2026 GGR run rate is tracking at a further slide to a little under Php180 billion (US$2.93 billion).
It’s a fall that feels less like a glitch in the matrix and more like an underlying trend, which begs the question: is the decline in Philippines casino revenues a fleeting setback, or is it structural? The answer? That depends on how you look at it.
Broadly speaking, the Philippines’ casino customer segment has traditionally been broken down into three distinct segments – the domestic slots player, the wealthy local table games player and international VIP – each contributing around a third of GGR. The challenge for the country’s integrated resort operators right now is that at least two of those segments have been heavily impacted by events that are largely out of their control.
On the domestic front, high inflation and rising fuel prices emanating from the conflict in the Middle East have had an outsized impact on the Philippine economy, with ING’s economics platform ING THINK issuing a report in March suggesting the country was particularly vulnerable due to its “modest fuel buffers, rapid domestic price pass through and a structurally wider current-account deficit.”
In June, PAGCOR Chairman and CEO Alejandro H. Tengco warned that the Philippine gaming industry could see a 19% decline in GGR in 2026 “primarily because of the Middle East crisis.”
This impact is being seen both in the land-based mass market segment and in the online realm, with Tengco adding, “The [lower income segments] are the ones who are affected now by the crisis, and before placing their bets or playing online they would make sure that they eat, they are able to buy the basic necessities.”
Ser Percival K. Peña-Reyes, Senior Research Fellow at Ateneo Center for Economic Research and Development, also told local media outlet BusinessWorld, “Gaming revenues are likely to remain somewhat subdued in the near term, particularly while inflation stays elevated, and consumer spending remains cautious. Several factors suggest the environment could stay challenging over the next few quarters. Higher fuel and transport costs are squeezing household disposable income, reducing spending on nonessential activities such as gaming.”
On a positive note, the current Middle East crisis should eventually resolve – albeit possibly only after US President Donald Trump’s term ends in January 2029 – providing a runway for the base mass market to recover.
More challenging is international VIP, which has taken a hit via plummeting visitation from the Philippines’ two most important source markets: South Korea and China.
The China story has been widely reported: VIP sector gaming revenues were for many years propped up by Chinese money generated through the controversial Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO) industry. When in mid-2024 President Ferdinand Marcos announced a complete ban on the POGO industry, much of that Chinese money disappeared.
Given how successful the Philippines has been in eradicating POGOs, and the considerable resources the government continues to throw at the cause, it is hard to see any substantial rebound in Chinese VIP play in the immediate future.
South Korea poses a different challenge, having in the first half of 2026 lost its long-held position as the clear number one source market for international arrivals to the Philippines. Arrivals from South Korea fell 18.5% in 2025 to just under 1.35 million, and another 10.2% in the first three months of this year.
Industry experts suggest that many Koreans no longer view the Philippines as a safe holiday destination, or at least not as safe as other regional travel options such as Vietnam, Singapore or Malaysia.
According to Scott Feeney, Executive Director of GCG Gaming Advisory Services, the challenges facing the Philippines’ integrated resort sector are multi-faceted – ranging from the massive impact online gaming growth has had on land-based operations to a lack of sufficient attractions compared with other gaming jurisdictions and major integrated resorts in places like Macau and Singapore.
However, he also believes the Philippines government must play a role in revitalizing the sector.
“Unlike competing regional IRs, the Philippines IRs lack international performances, events and conferences,” Feeney tells Inside Asian Gaming.
“The government will need to start with a global campaign run by the Philippine tourism bodies to attract the tourists. Unfortunately, there does not seem to have been a masterplan from the government to support the growth of the gaming industry, unlike in Singapore, which was very clear on how IRs fit into an overall set of objectives. These objectives were clearly outlined and supported by investment from international and Singaporean investors, in line with the IRs in terms of the development and timelines to improve the economy and tourism.”
Of course, all IRs are not equal, and PAGCOR’s own GGR data shows that the biggest impact from the decline in international visitation has been felt in Manila’s Entertainment City.
By contrast, destinations like Clark – home to Hann Casino Resort, Royce Hotel & Casino, Casino Plus and D’Heights among a handful of others – as well as Cebu, which NUSTAR calls home, have remained somewhat shielded from the headwinds impacting Manila. IAG understands that only around 5% of Clark’s gaming volume comes from Manila, with the Special Economic Zone welcoming a large swathe of the country’s northern customer base alongside enduring visitation from South Korea – largely because of its substantial golf offering.
Dennis Andreaci, Senior Advisor to Spectrum Gaming Group and until late last year SVP of Casino Operations at Hann, also notes that “Koreans continue to like Clark because they see a lot of Koreans, they know (Hann CEO Dae Sik Han) is Korean and they feel comfortable there.
“Clark also has its own international airport and gets most of the business from the north [of the Philippines’ main Luzon island], with NUSTAR getting the south [of the Philippines].”
Feeney agrees.
“Manila’s IRs within Entertainment City are now suffering, as casinos such as Solaire North, Winford and LaVie are taking the locals market and being far more accessible,” he explains.
“Clark and Cebu are showing growth, as they predominately cater for the locals within their immediate catchment area and have new airports, which increase the propensity of international tourists to visit.”
The positive, notes Feeney, is that world-class hotel brands can boost an integrated resort’s global appeal, and in this regard the Philippines has plenty to offer, such as Hilton and Sheraton at Newport World Resorts, Hyatt Regency at City of Dreams Manila and Swissôtel and Marriott at Hann.
There was also some welcome news accompanying PAGCOR’s most recent GGR update, with revenue from licensed casinos in 2Q26 rising by 2.9% year-on-year and 1.9% quarter-on-quarter to Php45.4 billion (US$474 million).
Still, “I think the pain is here to stay until we see the Philippines becoming as attractive to tourists as Singapore, Macau and Australia,” says Feeney. “Manila as an example is lacking iconic draw cards that the competing countries have, not to mention the lack of international performers, events and conferences within the IRs.”
IAG notes that Solaire Resort Entertainment City took a significant step towards rectifying this, when it renewed its partnership agreement with international production company GMG Productions in January with the express goal of bringing high-profile live performances to The Theatre at Solaire and interactive exhibits to The Space at Solaire. Recent shows have included Miss Saigon, Les Misérables: World Tour Spectacular and Jesus Christ Superstar.
Perhaps the greatest challenge for the Philippines’ integrated resorts right now is how to approach the online space – a source of explosive revenue growth for regulator PAGCOR but an ongoing quandary for operators straddling both the land-based and iGaming segments.
On the one hand, online provides a new avenue from which land-based casinos can access their customer base – an opportunity reflected by the fact that Solaire, Hann, NUSTAR, Newport World Resorts and Okada Manila have all launched online platforms in recent years.
On the other hand, the process of doing so is costly, and most operators have found it difficult to compete against companies that specialize in the online space, like DigiPlus and Casino Plus.
The irony, of course, is that the explosion in revenue from licensed iGaming operators in the Philippines ostensibly stems from efforts to help the country’s land-based resorts through the COVID-19 pandemic.
The so-called Philippine Inland Gaming Operators (PIGO) domestic online gaming initiative was launched in 2020 to allow licensed casinos to establish remote online gaming platforms during a period when customers could not physically travel to the casino properties.
Fast forward three years and the rapidly rising domestic demand for online gaming that PIGO created, combined with the online gaming infrastructure that had already set-up shop in the Philippines to support POGO, provided the inflection point that led to where we are today.
Recognizing that this inflection point had arrived, PAGCOR in 2024 dramatically lowered the fees it charged to licensed iGaming (E-Games) operators, with a view to bringing black- and gray-market entities into the regulated sphere – a move that not only worked a treat but saw Philippines gaming industry GGR reach an all-time high of Php396.1 billion (US$6.40 billion) in 2025. Notably, E-Games revenue overtook land-based for the first time at Php201.1 billion (US$3.25 billion).
Of course, the online sector has faced its own headwinds over the past 12 months – a victim of its own success – with PAGCOR currently in the process of revamping its regulatory framework amid concerns over the country’s online gambling controls.
As for the Philippines’ integrated resorts, they are now grappling with the investments they have made to convert their remote gaming platforms into full iGaming suites and whether in doing so they have cannibalized their own market.
“Besides the obvious flat international visitation, challenges [for the IRs] revolve around the introduction of PIGO,” says Feeney.
“The local population has been saturated by large-scale integrated resorts located in Metro Manila since 2010, and the novelty factor has worn off. The initial seed money has run out, and the middle class, or lack thereof, isn’t filling the void. Opportunities to increase the non-gaming elements have been overtaken by the need to invest in their online presence, wherein the developers, sometimes having invested from US$200 million to US$2 billion, now find themselves competing with the offsite online gaming companies proliferating the market once again.
“Locals can now simply avoid the traffic and expense of visiting these resorts and gamble online at far cheaper levels. They might only be circa 35% to 45% of the overall market, but they are part of essential foot traffic that allows the resorts’ ambience, attractiveness and non-gaming spend to flourish and the latter to be reinvested. I don’t see an immediate solution to these issues.”
How the online platforms of the Philippines’ IRs deploy and whether they can grow to comprise a meaningful share of revenue – most only contribute about 5% currently – will be a central storyline in the near term as operators look to make good on their investment. Of particular interest will be Solaire, which is the only one of Manila’s IRs to develop its own proprietary online gaming platform upon which it is launching two distinct online brands: premium offering Solaire Online and mainstream positioned FUNaloMAX.
By comparison, Newport and Okada Manila, as well as Hann and NUSTAR, have commissioned platform provider PhilWeb Corp to run their online sites for them. Opinions are divided on which is the best approach, and whether either can compete with the massive online presence of DigiPlus and others.
To double down on this point, DigiPlus recently launched its own bold expansion initiative, spending US$205 million on Subscription Notes in Hong Kong-listed International Entertainment Corp (IEC), parent company of Lavie Resort & Casino – located just to the north of Manila’s Entertainment City. DigiPlus has not yet converted those notes, which are enough to give it a controlling 53.89% stake in IEC, but that hasn’t stopped the two companies from entering into a separate agreement to launch another new online gaming business linked to LaVie.
For Feeney, the obvious conclusion from this confluence of market disruptions is that – other than Clark and its appeal as an international golfing destination – the Philippines has become a locals-centric ecosystem.
“The Philippines is suffering a lack of confidence in the country itself, with no real signs of any tangible growth, whilst the gaming industry is in the midst of uncertainty with ongoing regulatory changes and the potential for PAGCOR to sell down their casino assets,” he says. “The overall situation has not rebounded since 2019 and there is uncertainty in all directions.
“What we can see is that the online gaming revenues are holding up the numbers, and the growth in those low-cost entry points is now attractive to investors. However the IRs are suffering and running out of options and heavily reliant on any government initiatives, which take time and are lacking.
“For the IRs to once again flourish, international tourism needs to double, and that won’t happen until there is a world-class airport in Manila and Manila can improve its tourism infrastructure, attractions and events.”
