Japanese gaming company Universal Entertainment Corp says preliminary figures show that its Okada Manila casino resort (pictured) in the Philippines recorded gross gaming revenue (GGR) of nearly PHP2.48 billion (US$47.5 million) in April, up 26 percent from the prior-year period. Last month’s GGR however reflected a 24.6 percent decline from nearly PHP3.30 billion in March.
A Philippine subsidiary of Universal Entertainment, called Tiger Resort, Leisure and Entertainment Inc, runs Okada Manila.
April’s result put the property’s accumulated GGR for the first four months of 2019 at approximately PHP12 billion.
In a Friday filing about the April operating numbers for Okada Manila, Universal Entertainment did not give commentary regarding the year-on-year improvement in gaming revenue.
April GGR results for Okada Manila included VIP revenue of approximately PHP1.12 billion, up 20.0 percent compared to PHP929 million in the prior-year period, but down 33.4 percent sequentially.
Mass-market table GGR rose by 42.6 percent year-on-year, to PHP679 million last month, but fell by 4.9 percent from March. Gaming machine revenue stood at PHP689 million in April, up 21.9 percent from April 2018, but down 24.4 percent sequentially.
Universal Entertainment said in Friday’s filing that Okada Manila’s adjusted segmental earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for April were PHP314 million. That was an increase of nearly 224 percent compared with PHP97 million in the prior-year period but was down 38.3 percent from PHP509 million in March.
Okada Manila has been ramping up its casino business – posting US$522-million in casino GGR for full calendar year 2018 – against a background of general expansion in Philippine casino market GGR. The property recorded adjusted segmental EBITDA of PHP2.14 billion in full-year 2018, and recorded an operating loss of nearly US$55.6 million for the period.
The promoters of Okada Manila said in February that they were actively considering rebranding the property.
Okada Manila had a soft opening in late December 2016, with new amenities gradually added to the property since.
