GGRAsia – DigiPlus tags US$11mln for initial investment in Brazil

DigiPlus tags US$11mln for initial investment in Brazil

Nov 25, 2024 Newsdesk iGaming, Industry Talk, Latest News

Philippine-listed DigiPlus Interactive Corp says its board has approved an “initial funding” of PHP660 million (US$11.2 million) regarding its pursuit of a federal licence for iGaming operations in Brazil. On Thursday, the company had said one of the group’s wholly-owned subsidiaries, DigiPlus Brazil Interactive Ltda, had “passed the qualification stage” for a permit in the Brazilian market.

In a Friday filing, DigiPlust said the initial allocation of PHP660 million would be used to “pay for the licence fees, minimum capitalisation [requirement], financial reserves, and other operational expenses as part of the post-qualification process” being conducted by the Ministry of Finance’s Secretariat of Awards and Bets of Brazil.

“This initial funding is intended for a three-month horizon,” stated DigiPlus.

According to the company, the federal licence in Brazil would allow the group to run “operations of land-based and online sports betting, electronic games, live game studios, and other fixed-odds betting activities” in that market.

DigiPlus had said it would have “30 days to fulfil post-qualification regulatory requirements, including platform certification and licence fee payments”.

After completing the post-qualification requirements, the Secretariat of Awards and Bets “shall release the final list of operators authorised to operate from January 1, 2025, onwards,” added the company.

DigiPlus is a Philippine holding company with investment in gaming and leisure businesses, including bingo and a digital sportsbook platform.

In 2022 the firm launched an online bingo service, BingoPlus; and in February 2023, DigiPlus introduced ArenaPlus, a new brand for its sports betting operations.

In a separate development, DigiPlus said it had no plans yet to develop a casino property on the Philippine holiday island of Boracay.

“At the moment, we have no imminent plans to develop the 24-hectare [59.3-acre] property in Boracay into an integrated resort because we still remain focused on executing our digital transformation strategies, which give us a higher margin,” DigiPlus president Andy Tsui said in an online briefing last week, as quoted by the Business World media outlet.

DigiPlus, formerly known as Leisure & Resorts World Corp, had until October 2023 been linked with a proposal to develop a casino resort on Boracay.

Mr Tsui was also cited as saying that DigiPlus had 40 million registered users on its platform. “At the end of the third quarter, the monthly active user count was somewhere around 4.5 million. We’re growing compared to the end of 2023 when we had about 2 million active users,” he said.

Last week, DigiPlus also issued a statement saying there were “no definitive plans at this time” to acquire CasinoPlus, an online gaming provider regulated by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (Pagcor). CasinoPlus holds a gaming licence for its under-renovation integrated resort, the Hotel Stotsenberg and Casino in Clark, located two hours north of the capital, Manila.