DigiPlus Interactive Corp, a Philippine holding company with investment in gaming and leisure business, including digital bingo and a digital sportsbook operation, saw its first-quarter net income attributable to shareholders rise 370.2 percent year-on-year, to PHP1.99 billion (US$34.7 million) from nearly PHP424.4 million in the same period of 2023.
For the three months to March 31, DigiPlus’s consolidated revenue – most of it from “retail games” – increased by 226.3 percent to PHP13.63 billion, from just under PHP4.18 billion in first-quarter 2023.
This was “mainly due to increase in revenue from bingo and electronic games from retail, casino and property segments,” the firm said in a Wednesday filing to the Philippine Stock Exchange.
The first-quarter earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation for DigiPlus, were just under PHP2.11 billion, a rise of 312.8 percent on first-quarter 2023’s circa PHP510.2 million
“We intend to sustain our growth momentum by continuing to invest in innovation and new technologies to enhance user experience and adding new digital offerings,” said DigiPlus president Andy Tsui in prepared remarks.
He added: “By delivering innovative, fun, and accessible digital offerings, we aim to continue revolutionising the entertainment space in the Philippines.”
The firm’s 100-percent owned AB Leisure Exponent Inc has 128 land-based bingo venues – 116 of them operational as of March 31 – and in 2022 launched online bingo service BingoPlus, said to be the first traditional bingo product to be carried on a technology platform licensed by the country’s gaming regulator, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (Pagcor).
In February 2023, DigiPlus launched ArenaPlus, a new brand for its sports betting operations.
DigiPlus unit Blue Chip Gaming and Leisure Corp operates casino slot arcades at four “Pagcor VIP clubs”.
The parent group is also the 87.27-percent owner of First Cagayan Leisure and Resort Corp, which is tasked with licensing, regulating and monitor the operations of interactive gaming businesses on behalf of the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA). The latter body has been issuing licences for “interactive gaming” since 2001.
DigiPlus, formerly known as Leisure & Resorts World Corp, had until October 2023 been linked with a proposal to develop a casino resort on the holiday island of Boracay.
Pagcor expects the nation’s gaming industry to generate PHP336.38 billion in gross gaming revenues this year, a 17.9-percent increase compared with 2023. The agency said it expected the electronically-delivered gaming segment to experience the fastest growth in 2024.
About 43.5 percent of Pagcor’s PHP22.9 billion first-quarter revenue from gaming operations was generated by the e-Games sector, according to official data.
