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Philweb Corp on Tuesday said it plans to expand its online gaming business to at least six countries across the Asia Pacific this year, even as it shrugged off competition coming from new integrated casinos.
"Asia in general is booming. We are looking at Thailand, Myanmar, Palau, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Mongolia as new areas of opportunity," Dennis Valdes, Philweb president told reporters on the sidelines of the company's stockholders' meeting.
Valdes expects majority of Philweb's future revenues to come from operations abroad. At present, the company's Asia Pacific business contributes nine percent.
Philweb recorded consolidated revenues of P1.5 billion in 2012, up 27 percent year-on-year. Its net income rose 20 percent to P1.1 billion last year.
Philweb operates scratch card businesses in Cambodia, Timor Leste and Indonesia, as well as a sweepstakes business in Guam.
For its domestic operations, Valdes is bullish about the company's outlook despite the opening of new casinos in Metro Manila.
"We found that the gamers are very different. You see in our track records or revenue that there has been no effect on e-games. The reason for that is the Resorts World Manila and Solaire are in a very small section of the entire country, which is the city of Manila and Paranaque, while e-games is in every island," he said.
Resorts World Manila is a stand-alone casino across from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3, while Solaire is one of four integrated casino complexes rising on reclaimed land along Manila Bay in what is known as Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp's (Pagcor) Entertainment City.
"We are the 7-11 of gaming. It's your corner convenience store," Valdes said, referring to the convenience store chain.
http://www.interaksyon.com/business/58486/philweb-says-corner-store-gaming-format-to-thrive-alongside-integrated-casinos
