PAGCOR’s Casino Filipino Privatization Could Cost Philippines’ Health Care Program Up to P2.1 Billion a Year

The Philippine government’s plan to privatize Casino Filipino, the state-run casino brand operated by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR), could leave the country’s Universal Health Care (UHC) program short by as much as P2.1 billion a year, according to a new legal analysis. The sale of roughly 40 Casino Filipino branches to private operators is expected to raise between P30 billion and P50 billion for the national government, but experts warn that windfall will not offset the recurring hit to healthcare funding.

The warning comes from Manila-based legal outfit Geronimo Law, which published a commentary examining the financial mechanics behind PAGCOR’s long-planned “decoupling” strategy — the process of separating the agency’s regulatory function from its role as a casino operator.

How the Health Care Shortfall Adds Up

Under the Universal Health Care Act (Republic Act 11223), half of PAGCOR’s contributions to the national treasury are earmarked for the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) to help fund coverage for Filipino citizens. Casino Filipino’s gaming revenue has historically been a meaningful piece of that pipeline, contributing roughly P3.02 billion to UHC in 2024 and about P2.47 billion in 2025.

Geronimo Law estimates that once Casino Filipino branches are sold off, that dedicated revenue stream shrinks dramatically, since PAGCOR would then earn only license fees from private operators rather than direct gaming income. “For UHC to be made whole through license fees alone, privatized branches would have to more than triple their gross gaming revenues,” the firm said in its commentary, calling that outcome unlikely in the near term.

The firm projects the recurring loss to UHC at between P1.7 billion and P2.1 billion annually, based on 2024 and 2025 revenue figures — a gap it says will persist year after year once the branches change hands.

Sale Proceeds Won’t Plug the Gap

Complicating matters further, the one-time windfall from the sale itself — the P30 billion to P50 billion PAGCOR Chairman and CEO Alejandro H. Tengco has estimated the divestment could generate — is structurally barred from flowing to UHC. Geronimo Law notes that the UHC earmark applies only to franchise gaming earnings, not to proceeds from asset sales.

“The P30 billion to P50 billion purchase price will not go to UHC,” the firm said, explaining that net proceeds from the sale are instead remitted directly to the national government as general dividends rather than routed through the healthcare funding formula.

The analysis also flagged that PhilHealth has already accumulated approximately P106 billion in unremitted UHC receivables from PAGCOR dating back to 2019, adding further strain to a funding relationship that privatization would only complicate.

What Comes Next

The divestment of Casino Filipino’s roughly 40 branches is expected to unfold between late 2026 and 2027, with full separation of PAGCOR’s regulatory and operational functions targeted for completion by 2028. The Governance Commission for Government-Owned and -Controlled Corporations (GCG), which is reviewing the decoupling proposal, is expected to submit its recommendation to the Office of the President by the third quarter of 2026, with an executive order targeted before year’s end.

Geronimo Law’s conclusion was blunt: while privatization may resolve the longstanding conflict of PAGCOR acting as both operator and regulator of the same casinos it oversees, it comes with a steep and recurring trade-off for the country’s public health funding — one that current legal structures don’t appear designed to address.