PAGCOR’s planned sale of its self-operated casinos, under the Casino Filipino brand, is expected to take place within the next year or two, according to the nation’s Finance Undersecretary.
The official noted that PAGCOR’s chairman, Alejandro H. Tengco, had requested the timeline in order to account for employees who could be affected by the sale.
The privatization effort, revealed to AGB by Tengco at the opening of the ASEAN Gaming Summit, has been floated before, but it appears that this time PAGCOR is serious about the sale.
However, PAGCOR is also pushing for the one-to-two-year timeline in order to increase the value of the casinos, noted the Finance Undersecretary.
The main value of the privatization will be in the licenses themselves, as the operator leases all of its casino properties.
The privatization is also part of the nation’s push to dispose of some PHP2 billion ($35.93 million) in assets this year, a four-fold increase from last year.
