Gaming revenues boost PhilWeb income by 64%

Listed Internet gaming firm PhilWeb Corp. posted a net income of P190 million last year, up 64 percent from P116 million a year earlier due to higher revenues from its core gaming operations.

 In a financial report filed at the Philippine Stock Exchange, PhilWeb said revenues doubled to P266.9 million while its operating income grew five-fold to P123.1 million from only P23.1 million a year earlier.

PhilWeb president Dennis O. Valdes said the number of its Internet cafes increased to 76 from 44 in 2006.  “The expansion of the café network had a synergistic effect, as more players noticed the cafés and were attracted to play.  As a result, bet volume and player growth were even higher than café growth.”

Also contributing to the company’s strong bottom line is Premyo sa Resibo (PSR), PhilWeb’s first text-based game, which continues to generate large text volumes from the public. 

The PSR program, a collaboration among the Bureau of Internal Revenue, Department of Finance, Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) and PhilWeb, is aimed at tracking tax evasion and boosting tax collections. It  encourages consumers to ask for official receipts of purchases or services rendered by offering a P1 million prize per week for receipt data texted in. 

Valdes said PhilWeb’s investment in PSR solidifies its role as a key supporter of government’s revenue-increasing efforts.

“We are even more strongly positioned for 2008, as we have shown that we can keep our costs low while rapidly increasing our top line revenues, thus exponentially increasing income. As we increase our ICS business and launch new products in 2008, we are forecasting an even brighter year for PhilWeb,” he added.

PhilWeb has also launched Txtingo, the country’s first large-scale mobile phone betting game where bets are deductible from phone load credits. The game is presently available exclusively to Smart and Talk N Text subscribers.

 PhilWeb also reported that it benefited from its investment in ISM Communications Corp., which now owns 67.49 percent of Eastern Telecommunications Philippines Inc. (ETPI). The company’s equity in the earnings of ISM was P38.2 million last year.