Philweb reports huge earnings from Pagcor games

MANILA, Philippines Listed Philweb Corp. , which operates games for state-run Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., reported double-digit growth in its earnings last year. In a statement to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Philweb said its consolidated net income jumped 29 percent to P287.3 million in 2008 from P222.8 million in 2007. The consolidated net income includes PhilWeb's equity in the net earnings of ISM Communications Corp. Meanwhile from its core business, Philweb said its net income jumped 90 percent to P229.5 million. "The key driver of core net income continues to be our PAGCOR e-Games Cafes. In 2008, we opened 45 new cafes, a 59 percent increase in outlets, ending the year with 121 cafes," said Dennis Valdes, PhilWeb president said. Valdes also said the company expanded in other existing games of chance such as Basketball Jackpot, Premyo Sa Resibo and Txtingo Super Singko. Last year, PhilWeb revenue totaled P457.2 million, a 71-percent improvement. Basketball Jackpot is operated from a network of kiosks called Internet Sports Betting Stations or ISBS. PhilWeb had a total of 149 ISBS as of end-December last year. Premyo Sa Resibo, meanwhile, is a mobile raffle operated on behalf of the Bureau of Internal Revenue with the objective of increasing tax revenues by uncovering companies that do not issue proper receipts. Txtingo Super Singko, however, is PhilWeb's newest product, is a mobile lottery, with a daily draw giving texters the chance to win P10 million outright. Valdes said that the revenues from these games have allowed PhilWeb to accumulate a cash reserve of over P695 million. "We will use these funds to aggressively invest in new games of chance and other opportunities that come our way in 2009. We are quite optimistic that this trend will accelerate in 2009," Valdes said. GMANews.TV