Philippine casinos generate US$ 70 million in revenues in May

Pagcor said in a statement on its website that it raked in US$ 69.58 million in revenues in May, up 10.87 % from a year earlier for the highest monthly total in its 25-year history. Five-month revenues were up 10.45 % from the previous year to US$ 0.33 billion, Pagcor added in the statement posted on Monday.

"We generated more than US$ 0.05 billion from our gaming operations and US$ 0.02 billion from regulated gaming, like commercial bingo and licensed casino operations," CEO Cristino Naguiat said in the statement.

A company official who asked not to be named told AFP Tuesday that while Pagcor did not disclose gamers' profiles or the specific size of bets, there was a general trend of players staying longer and betting bigger amounts.

"It's not the number of gamers that is the key... what matters most is the amount of the bets that we generate, and these have become relatively bigger," the official said.

Pagcor operates its own chain of 13 casinos, as well as regulates and licenses other gaming venues. Pagcor announced last year that the Philippines was aiming to become Asia's next big gambling hub with plans to build an "Entertainment City" in Manila to rival boom towns Macau and Singapore by 2014.

Resorts World, majority-owned by Malaysia's Genting Group, opened last year, becoming the first of four envisaged major gaming venues in the "Entertainment City".

Located near the international airport, it has three hotels, a 30,000-square-metre (about 323,000-square-foot) casino and a 30,000-square-metre shopping mall.