MAKATI CITY, PHILIPPINES - A good economy has helped Philippine gaming firm PhilWeb Corp. reach a 28% increase in revenues from January to September this year over the same period last year.
The listed gaming company announced that net income from January to September reached P447 million (US$ 10.31 million), up by almost a third over the same period last year which saw PhilWeb post P373 million (US$ 8.6 million) in revenues.
According to PhilWeb President Dennis Valdes:
"We are particularly pleased with our third-quarter results as it shows that our core businesses remain robust."
The PhilWeb president added that his company has remitted to to the Philippine Amusement Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) a total P921 million (US$ 21.3 million) as its shares in the revenues generated by E-Games internet casino and sports betting stations. E-Games is 60% owned by PAGCOR and PhilWeb manages and operates the casino on the former's behalf.
Valdes added that the remitted amount goes directly to PAGCOR's bottomline as the state gaming agency did not shoulder any capital expenditure or operational costs for the gaming kiosks and betting stations.
He also said that PhilWeb expects to remit over P1.3 billion (US$ 30.1 million) for the year.
"We are also pleased with our businesses' performance at the start of the fourth quarter this year, which show continued growth," Valdes expressed. "We remain confident that 2010 will be a record year for PhilWeb, both in terms of revenues and net income."
A few months earlier, the Commission on Audit recommended that PAGCOR re-negotiate its revenue-sharing agreement with PhilWeb stating that the latter's share in profits was disadvantageous to the government.
PhilWeb disputed the claims by COA stating that the contract it had with PAGCOR was advantageous to the government agency as no state funds were used to setup and operate the internet gaming kiosks.
Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer
Date Posted: November 10, 2010
