According to MegaSportsWorld General Manager Louis Watts:
"Sports and gaming are intertwined in Philippine culture. While there is an element of luck in sports betting, most patrons are true sports fan who follow team and player statistics, analyze season performances, and predict their bets from there."
MegaSportsWorld, or MSW, is a PAGCOR-licensed sportsbook operator which operates betting terminals in key areas in the Philippines not unlike the off-track betting stations that cater to horse-racing aficionados. Unlike OTB however, the popularity of sports betting has yet to really take off among local punters but MSW expects the trend to change. The sportsbook believes that the Filipinos' interest in sports, which has diversified in recent years, will boost the growth of the local gaming industry.
"They (Filipinos) take the sport just as seriously as they do the bets," said Watts.
MSW said that revenues in the gaming sector to double by 2015 from the US$618 million it earned last year with sports betting to factor considerably to the gains from traditional casino and lottery segments.
Data from PriceWaterhouseCoopers indicate that the Philippine gaming market's compounded annual growth rate by 2015 will be at 16.9% as compared to the region's estimated growth rate of 18.3%. However, local gaming revenues fell 5.9% last year.
But MSW is optimistic of the growth in gaming in the country, especially in sports-related betting.
"The allure of sports betting seems to come from being able to vicariously participate in the sports themselves," said Watts. "It is only natural then that this reverence is extended to sports betting, where nationalism, sports knowledge, and love for the game mix."
MSW is the trade name of Orient Capital Ventures, Inc. (OCVI) which started operations in the mid-2000s and introduced Western-style sportsbook operations in the Philippines. OCVI is a member of the Asian Logic Group of Companies, a Hong Kong-based gaming group that operates online gaming sites and the Asian Poker Tour (APT).
