Philippine-listed DigiPlus Interactive Corp, an investor in gaming services including bingo and a digital sportsbook platform, says it doubled its registered-user tally, to more than 40 million last year. That is according to a Thursday briefing by the company, reported by local media outlets.
The firm’s chairman Eusebio Tanco was cited as saying he was hopeful the user base would continue to grow, following the company’s entry into the Brazil market, and the recent move by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (Pagcor), the regulator in its home market, to reduce the fee paid by electronic games (e-Games) operators to 30 percent of gross gaming revenue (GGR).
Philippine news outlet BusinessWorld quoted Mr Tanco as stating: “Our aim is really to do better than the year past. We also try to manage the expectations of investors. They don’t expect us to have those hyper growth [rates] every year.”
He added: “It will improve to a certain extent, but not maybe at the rate we have now.”
The chairman observed, referring to the domestic market: “We launched more games like the Perya Game, Color Game, Pinoy Drop Ball, and our marketing and branding strategy is really to acquire more users.”
“We’ve been moving around different parts of the country… [and] what’s happening is our registered users are growing” in number, Mr Tanco added.
In a January 2 filing, Digiplus said a wholly-owned subsidiary, DigiPlus Brazil Interactive Ltda, was among a number of applicants granted “definitive authority” by the Brazilian government, to operate “sports betting and other online games” in that nation.
In a Monday press release, Pagcor had confirmed a reduction to 30 percent, regarding the amount e-Games licensees must pay from their GGR. The regulator added that the lower rate had been in place since January 1.
Pagcor’s E-Gaming Licensing Department told GGRAsia in a written response to an enquiry, that it estimated GGR from the country’s electronic gaming segment would reach PHP160 billion (US$2.75 billion) in 2025.
