Pacific Online posts 10% profit hike

MANILA, Philippines - Pacific Online Systems Corp. took advantage of the popularity of lottery games to boost its earnings in the first half.

In a disclosure, the online lottery system provider of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) in the Visayas and Mindanao said its net income rose 10 percent to P268 million in the first semester from P243 million a year ago.

Aggregate PCSO sales of Lotto and Keno handled by Pacific Online improved five percent to P7.3 billion in the six-month period.

“Pacific Online expects sales and revenue growth to continue for the rest of the year as PCSO lottery games remain to be popular nationwide and as it adds new terminals this year,” the company said.

Pacific Online currently has 4,064 terminals selling various lottery games operated by PCSO. Subsidiary Total Gaming Technologies Inc. has 1,224 terminals and sells Keno nationwide for PCSO.

“Based on the current trend of PCSO lottery sales, Pacific Online expects it to reach P16 billion for full-year 2014,” said the listed firm, which has been a systems provider of PCSO since 1996.

In March last year, the firm remained as the provider of online lottery equipment of PCSO in the Visayas and Mindanao. The parties extended the term of their equipment lease agreement from April 1, 2013 to July 31, 2015.

However, Pacific Online said the lease rate of the online lottery equipment was cut by a fifth to 7.7 percent. Pacific Online also agreed to bear the costs of all paper consumables and equipment maintenance for the online lottery operations in Visayas and Mindanao.

Pacific Online is partly owned by Belle Corp., which is building a $1.3-billion casino and hotel complex in the Manila Bay reclamation area.