PhilWeb profit more than doubles in Q3

MANILA, Philippines - Online technology firm PhilWeb Corp. more than doubled its net income to P144.8 million in the third quarter this year on continued strong growth of its core gaming businesses.

This brings PhilWeb’s net earnings for the first nine months of the year to P372.4 million or 76 percent higher than the previous level. The growth was largely driven by the opening of more Pagcor e-Games café branches which now number at 159.

PhilWeb had a total of 159 e-Games café stores as of end-September this year compared with only 108 in the same period a year ago.

PhilWeb was also able to increase same-store income via additional terminals, renovations and upgrades in service standards, including the introduction of exclusive “high-roller” areas and improvements in operations and marketing cascaded to all operators in the system.

Given its robust performance in the third quarter, PhilWeb said it is confident it can sustain its gains for the rest of the year, particularly doubling its net income with the launch of more game offerings in the fourth quarter.

PhilWeb is set to introduce NBA games betting for its Basketball Jackpot product, while its mobile gaming unit will relaunch the Bureau of Internal Revenue’s Premyo Sa Resibo program as “Instant Premyo Sa Resibo”, in which users will know instantly whether their entry has won or not, in the same manner as a bottle cap or scratch card promotion.

PhilWeb president Dennis O. Valdes said the company, with a cash hoard of over P700 million, will continue to expand its businesses through acquisitions. “We are actively looking at expanding internationally, and in addition, we are seeking investment opportunities in gaming-related companies in the country. We hope to make some exciting announcements about these in the near future,” he said.

As a valued partner of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., which regulates all games of chance in the country, PhilWeb has remitted a total of P742.7 million to the government, up 88 percent from last year.