Second-quarter gross profit at Philippine gaming investor Leisure and Resorts World Corp increased 85.4 percent year-on-year, to PHP171.7 million (US$3.4 million) from PHP92.6 million.
The firm said in a Monday filing to the Philippine Stock Exchange that the improvement was “mainly due to the growth in gross gaming revenue [GGR] especially for the casino” segment, as well as for a retail segment it operates.
Nonetheless it added that operations in the latest reporting period were “directly affected by the continuous community quarantine measures implemented by the Philippine government in relation to Covid-19”.
Two wholly-owned units with casino operations – Blue Chip Gaming and Leisure Corp, an operator of electronic gaming machine halls; and Gold Coast Leisure World Corp, operator of a number of VIP gaming clubs in Philippine casinos – registered higher turnover figures in the second quarter of 2021 at PHP2.2 billion, compared to PHP100 million in the second quarter of 2020.
The group’s online gaming licensing arm – its approximately 69.7-percent-owned First Cagayan Leisure and Resort Corp, generated PHP69.2 million gross revenues during the second quarter of 2021, a decrease of PHP60.4 million or 46.6 percent from last year’s second quarter of PHP147.5 million.
Referring to the special economic zone where some online gaming operators have registered their business with First Cagayan, the parent group said: “The decline can be attributed to non-renewal of Cagayan Economic Zone Authority licensees and lower revenues reported by existing licensees.”
Leisure and Resorts World’s wholly-owned unit Prime Investment Korea Inc has an agreement with the Philippine gaming regulator, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (Pagcor), to run junket business at Pagcor’s Casino Filipino Midas, in Manila. But that junket business has been “non-operational” since March 2020, following Covid-19-related countermeasures imposed by the local authorities, noted the parent.
