"Those casinos being operated directly by Pagcor should be privatized first. The one in Fort Ilocandia, mostly in the provinces, where they [Pagcor] actually do the operations. That’s the first step, so that is what we are working on at the moment,” Dominguez told reporters last week.
Dominguez said they were determining the capacity, including the number of tables and visitors, of each casino to eventually determine their respective valuation.
"That should be one by one because every casino is very different from the other,” the finance chief said, adding that they wanted to complete the studies by
Dominguez said the privatization of Pagcor’s casinos might take several years. "It’s not going to happen overnight and the deals are quite complex so we have to piece it out and see what is the best deal for the government.”
As for concerns that the government might lose a revenue stream once it has privatized the Pagcor-run casinos, Dominguez said: "I don’t see how that will happen. First of all, how does a government-run casino compete with the privately run casinos? I think there is no way they can compete.”
"If we don’t privatize, they might actually lose their customers. We might as well do it now. And the revenue stream, that’s why we have to analyze how much revenues come from their winnings as against how much of the revenues come from the fees that are being paid,” Dominguez said.
Source: GMB / Business Inquirer
