Horse racing club bullish on property project, core business stays flat

Philippine Racing Club Inc. Chairman Santiago Cua said Monday during the Club’s annual stockholders' meeting that there is a high degree of optimism in the success of the development of the PRCI’s 21 hectare property located along the inner portion of Pasong Tamo in Makati City. In February 2011, the PRCI signed an agreement with Ayala Land Inc. to jointly develop the property into a mixed-use complex with recreational, entertainment, commercial, retail, office and residential components.

 

Under the agreement, PRCI will contribute the entire property to the joint development project while ALI will undertake the development itself. The partners will thereafter share in the revenues to be generated by the project.

 

However, Cua said that the Pasong Tamo property development would take approximately 10 years to complete because of its complexity.

 

Cua said PRCI’s diversification into property development comes at an opportune time as its core business of horseracing continued its almost flat trend in betting turnover.

 

Company data showed that betting turnover in 2011 decreased slightly by 2.25 percent compared to 2010.

 

Santa Ana Park is still the market leader with a 50.32-percent share of total industry betting turnover amounting to P3.976 billion. Of this amount, offtrack betting stations accounted for P3.87 billion; maintrack, P59.93 million, and Telebet, P45.1 million.

 

Also, PRCI President and CEO Solomon Cua said that there are still some critical horse-racing industry issues that will likely affect turnover this year. These include the need to expand the total population of running horses, the need to broaden the sport's fan base comparable to other gaming activities, and the need for an overall industry incentive program. — DVM, GMA News