Travellers International Hotel Group Inc, the operator of the Resorts World Manila casino complex in the Philippine capital, recorded net gaming revenues of PHP9.4 billion (US$196.3 million) in full-2020, despite being subjected to forms of government-mandated lockdown throughout the year, due to efforts to stem the further spread of Covid-19 locally.
Resorts World Manila (pictured in a file photo) is a venture between the Philippine conglomerate Alliance Global Group Inc and Hong Kong-listed Genting Hong Kong Ltd.
Alliance Global mentioned the net gaming revenue result in a press release filed with the Philippine Stock Exchange on Monday. It did not provide a comparison with Travellers International’s performance in 2019.
Alliance Global added that non-gaming revenues at Resorts World Manila for full-year 2020 amounted to PHP2.8 billion.
Gaming revenue in the fourth quarter of 2020 increased by about one third sequentially, Alliance Global said, without providing further detail.
Travellers International managed to post earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of PHP425 million “even with the limited operations of Resorts World Manila during most part of the year due to the community restrictions” related to Covid-19.
During 2020, Travellers International “upgraded its Garden Wing casino, to complement its Grand Wing casino,” giving Resorts World Manila “the much-needed capacity” under the new circumstances linked to the emergence of the pandemic, Alliance Global said
Travellers International is 70-percent owned by firms associated with the Alliance Global brand, and 30-percent owned by Genting Hong Kong. Travellers International no longer files its own results to the Philippine bourse, as it delisted in October 2019.
For Alliance Global as a whole, net profit fell 62.0 percent year-on-year in 2020, to PHP10.3 million, from PHP27.1 billion in the previous year, “as the pandemic hit most of [the group’s] businesses”.
The head of the Philippine casino regulator was quoted by Philippine media earlier this month as saying that Resorts World Manila was among a group of casino properties in the country’s capital that had “started” online play for table games and slots.
Face-to-face casino operations in the Metro Manila area, including at the large-scale private sector sites of City of Dreams Manila, Okada Manila, Resorts World Manila, and Solaire Resort and Casino, have remained closed since late-March, due to countermeasures against Covid-19.
