PhilWeb Corp eyes international expansion

MANILA, Philippines - PhilWeb Corp., the country’s first and largest publicly-listed Internet company, expects its performance this year to break all records, largely due to the success of its Pagcor e-Games Café (PeGS).

PhilWeb president Dennis Valdes said they are looking at duplicating the success of PeGS in other countries like Vietnam, Laos, Saipan, Palau, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Nepal.

 “We are confident that 2010 will eclipse all records we have set last year for all our businesses,” he pointed out.

Valdes revealed that they are in the process of trying to get a license to operate the business in these countries, but he is confident that one can be set up soon in Cambodia.

He noted that the PeGS model works well in countries with low rate of computer ownership and credit card penetration, as these cafes only accept cash.

As for their May performance, Valdes said the figures so far are showing fantastic records.

PeGs are Internet cafes owned and operated by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) that offer online versions of games of chance played in land-based casinos, such as poker, blackjack, baccarat, other card games, slot machines, roulette and craps.

In the first quarter of 2010, PeGs continued to be the key driver of PhilWeb’s growth with bet volumes setting new records month after month. Gross bets for the January-March 2010 period rose to P21 billion, a 32-percent improvement from the same quarter last year.

Also in the same period, revenues reached P200.1 million, or a 40-percent growth. At the end of March, there were a total of 177 cafes, of which half are outside Metro Manila.

Aside from PeGS, PhilWeb also provides management services to a network of Pagcor-owned and operated Internet sports betting stations (ISBS). The ISBS network operates off PhilWeb-developed gaming software, which currently offers only Basketball Jackpot, a numbers game that resembles the popular illegal ending game.

With over 180 ISBS kiosks, PhilWeb intends to increase the number of outlets selling the game further.

The company intends to increase the number of betting variations to choose from and to add more games to the current mix, not necessarily basketball-related.

PhilWeb has also partnered with Megasportsworld to offer sportsbetting via PeGS.

Pagcor Homeplay, the first pure online casino in the country, was launched last January, and targets higher-value players who would rather play on their own computers instead of going to the PeGS.

For this year, several projects have been lined up by PhilWeb in partnership with Pagcor and telecommunications companies.

Basketball 38 is a new game developed by PhilWeb for Pagcor that will be offered to the market initially at the ISBS or Basketball Jackpot kiosks.

Meanwhile, the company has taken its first step to international expansion by securing a business process outsourcing contract to manage online casinos in behalf of a foreign principal.

PhilWeb said it believes it can penetrate and grow the Asian gambling market by offering a wide variety of secure and easy payment options, which has been a stumbling block for other online casinos in the region.

It added that the long-term goal is to build casinos uniquely adapted to Asian markets, all under a single infrastructure umbrella to maximize economies of scale and build powerful regional brands.