GGRAsia – Manila Jockey Club posts lower 1H casino-related revenue

Manila Jockey Club posts lower 1H casino-related revenue

Aug 22, 2018 Newsdesk Latest News, Philippines, Top of the deck

The Manila Jockey Club Inc – a firm offering betting on horse racing and cockfighting within the Philippines – reported a net loss of PHP76.8 million (US$1.4 million) for the first half of 2018, an improvement from a loss of PHP90.7 million a year earlier, the company said in a Wednesday filing to the Philippine Stock Exchange.

Revenue for the period was PHP390.3 million, up by 28.8 percent in year-on-year terms.

The firm posted a net loss of PHP24.6 million for the second quarter of the year compared to a net loss of PHP52.1 million one year earlier.

The company recorded a decline in casino-related revenue during the period.

The Manila Jockey Club has a “lease agreement” with the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp – also known as Pagcor – to “lease [a] 1,427-square-metre [15,360 sq. feet] property, with modern slot machines, including the rights to a proprietary system of linking and networking the said slot machines in Turf Club Building, San Lazaro Leisure Park, Carmona, Cavite.” Under the agreement – under renewal – the firm is entitled to “receive monthly variable rent equivalent to 35 percent of revenues less winnings/prizes and 5 percent franchise tax.”

Manila Jockey Club said in its Wednesday filing that income from the lease agreement with Pagcor amounted to PHP6.7 million in the first half of 2018, compared to PHP10.1 million in the prior-year period.

The firm also leases an area of 189.231 sq metres to Pagcor, for a monthly fixed rental of PHP510.51 per sq metre, for Pagcor’s “casino and related activities”. Rent income from that deal amounted to PHP0.6 million in the first six months of 2018, same as in the prior-year period.

Pagcor is an operator of publicly owned casinos as well as the regulator for the country’s entire casino industry, which includes privately developed venues.

An associate company to Manila Jockey Club – in which the firm has a stake of 22.31 percent – operates casino operations at Winford Hotel, within the San Lazaro Tourism and Business Park. Manila Jockey Club reported “equity in net losses” of MJC Investments Corp of PHP81.7 million for the first half of 2018, compared to PHP174.2 million in full 2017.