Philippines Online Gambling Showing Great Profit

Published: Thursday, January 22, 2009 Online-Casinos.com

PhilWeb Corp. President Dennis Valdes expects to post big profits this year as the online gambling industry moves forward even in a slowing ecomomy. "The key driver of core net income continues to be our Philippine Gaming Corp. e-Games Cafés," Mr.Valdes said yesterday. Last year, the company opened 45 new cafés to end the year with 121 outlets. He also said their 2008 performance was not surprising since as early as the third quarter, the company had surpassed profits in 2007,double the profit in fact.

It is noted that while other businesses were slowly feeling the effects of the economic crisis, PhilWeb did not experience any slowdown in December, which turned out to be its strongest in company history, posting a quarter growth from a month earlier.

"There is also no slowdown in January, that is why we are optimistic that growth for this year will continue. Our customers are... insulated from the crisis and have the disposable income to participate in our games," Mr.Valdes stated. The corporation has expanded aggressively in their other games of chance Basketball Jackpot, Premyo Sa Resibo and Txtingo Super Singko. Basketball Jackpot is operated from a network of kiosks called Internet sports betting stations. The company has 149 stations.

Premyo Sa Resibo, meanwhile is a mobile raffle operated on behalf of the Bureau of Internal Revenue, while Txtingo Super Singko is a mobile lottery that gives participants a chance to win P10 million.Mr. Valdes said these had allowed the company to accumulate cash, which it would use to capitalize on other games that will fuel the company's growth.

Analysts said it was understandable for gaming companies to have a positive outlook for 2009 since Filipinos always want to try their luck.The past year has turned out to be a record year for PhilWeb, making them optimistic that this trend will continue this year.