Reports
SOUTH EAST ASIA - THE PHILIPPINES
with schools and churches. Under the law gaming venues must be at least 200 metres from such locations.
It later reinstated 20 licences saying e-bingo operations located inside malls, arcades and hotels are considered exempt from the distance requirement.
PAGCOR is now studying whether it will permanently maintain the exemption of malls, arcades and hotels from distance requirements.
Online bingo is one of the most popular forms of gambling in the Philippines and made up three quarters of internet gaming revenue in the first half of the year according to PAGCOR data.
Under Duterte’s anti online gambling campaign the ban would have had a big affect on LRWC which has a 35 per cent market share of the Philippines’ bingo market with 8,585 e-bingo machines plus 119 bingo halls.
Duterte was quoted in June as saying: “Online gambling must stop. It’s out of control. I would suggest that sometime soon, licences must be cut.” He later back tracked and said online gaming was permitted providing it was located a certain distance from schools and churches.
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PAGCOR initially announced that 36 e-bingo sites run by Leisure and Resorts World subsidiary AB Leisure Exponent (ABLE) and 17 sites run by another subsidiary Total Gamezone Extreme had to close. Tey also said new licences would not be issued or expired licences would not be renewed.
LRWC acquired Leisure Exponent in 1999 to extend its business into a bingo company through Bingo Bonanza Corporation. Te company also acquired First Cagayan Leisure and Resort Corporation in 2005 to develop and operate internet facilities in the Cagayan Special Economic Zone Freeport. Te company is now divided into four groups – Retail, Online, Casino and Property.
Te online sector for the company saw a total contribution to the net income for the company of P516.1m in 2015, a 19 per cent growth on the previous year. Gross revenues for the First Cagayan Leisure and Resort Corporation was P1.60bn, with the principal growth driver being the number of operating locators which grew from 111 in 2015 from 84 in 2014.
Te retail group comprises of AB Leisure Exponent (ABLE) and Total Gamezone Xtreme Inc (TGXI). Total contribution to group net
income was P256.2m in 2015. Electronic bingo via the Bingo Bonanza brand is a principal driver of sales with P3.4bn in 2015 with a total of 8,585 e-bingo machines in 119 bingo parlours of which 47 are traditional bingo sites and 72 are Bingo Boutique sites. TGXI contributed P295.1m and operates 53 PeGS with 1,974 terminals.
LRWC’s casino sector includes a 51 per cent share of the Hotel Enterprises of Philippines (HEPI) which owns and operates a PAGCOR satellite casino at the Midas Hotel.
Total contribution of the casino group to net income was P85.2m and this group consists of HEPI, Prime Investment Korea Inc and Blue Chip Gaming and Leisure Corporation.
Meanwhile PAGCOR has received a total of 76 bids for its new offshore gaming licences since applications began in September. PAGCOR will initially grant 25 licences for offshore gaming operations under new rules and regulations. Te licences will each be valid for one year.
Te rules may possibly change over the first 12 months once PAGCOR has assessed the operation of the licensees. Te licence covers e- casinos offering products based on a random number generator device or live dealer games
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