The acquisition of a land-based casino in the Philippines will help online gaming operator DigiPlus Interactive Corp retain customers and increase its revenue, says the firm’s president, Andy Tsui (pictured).
Philippines-listed DigiPlus is set to subscribe to convertible notes of Hong Kong-listed International Entertainment Corp, worth HKD1.60 billion (US$205.8 million). International Entertainment runs the New Coast Hotel Manila property in the Philippine capital.
Once fully converted, the notes would give DigiPlus a 53.89-percent stake in International Entertainment, based on the enlarged share capital.
New Coast Hotel Manila currently offers 203 rooms and operates 96 gaming tables, 495 slot machines, and a range of other gaming amenities, according to corporate information.
Speaking to GGRAsia during an event on Wednesday, Mr Tsui said research conducted prior to the announcement of the agreement with International Entertainment showed that adding a land-based operation could help grow revenue by “30 to 40 percent”.
Customer retention could increase by “20 to 30 percent” with the addition of a land-based segment, he further suggested.
The acquisition of New Coast Hotel Manila – through which DigiPlus would own the building, the land and run the operations – would support the group “diversifying its business,” stated the executive.
The deal would also help the company offer better deals to its high-value customers, which the firm describes as the top “20 to 30 percent” of the users of its platforms, who generate “around 70 to 80 percent” of the group’s revenues.
In the Philippines, DigiPlus runs BingoPlus, described as the country’s first government-approved online bingo platform. It also operates ArenaPlus, a sportsbook, and GameZone, a platform for casual and arcade gaming. One of the group’s other units operates casino slot arcades in the country.
Mr Tsui also told reporters on Wednesday that because the New Coast Hotel Manila complex was located “in the heart of Manila”, the acquisition “fits well” with the group’s strategy, which is “focused on the mass market”.
“We might be able to achieve much stronger growth because there’s only one casino or integrated resort in that area,” he explained.
The DigiPlus president also mentioned the benefit of acquiring a majority stake in a Hong Kong-listed company.
“We will enlarge our investor base, and we can tap into a bigger poll of international investors with higher liquidity,” Mr Tsui noted.
The executive said the deal was expected to be financed with internal funds. At the end of the September quarter, DigiPlus had a cash balance of about PHP19.9 billion (US$337.8 million), according to its latest quarterly earnings report filed with the Philippine Stock Exchange.
“If needed, we might look for short-term financing with local banks … There’s no plan to raise any equity financing for this deal,” he stated, noting that the deal might take “six to nine months” to be completed.
Creating an entertainment ecosystem
According to Mr Tsui, DigiPlus has currently “40-million plus” registered users, with about “6 million active monthly users”.
The company is working on upgrading its platform, aiming to create “more of an entertainment ecosystem, with more non-gaming offerings,” noted the executive.
Mr Tsui explained the group aims to “increase the stickiness” of its platform and “grow the number of users”, who eventually will become “paying customers, be it for gaming or non-gaming products”.
As part of that effort, DigiPlus had a soft launch for a new, self-promoted product based on short reels, offering brief, vertical videos, designed for quick viewing on social media and entertainment platforms, revealed Jasper Vicencio, president at AB Leisure Exponent Inc and Total Gamezone Xtreme Inc, subsidiaries of DigiPlus.
The product was developed with entertainment network GMA, and uses what is known as a “freemium’ model, where a few episodes are free before requiring users to pay for a subscription to continue watching.
Mr Vicencio, who also leads the business development team at DigiPlus, said the product would be “monetised via subscription fees”. He stated: “It adds operational value to our digital ecosystem.”
In his Wednesday’s remarks, Mr Tsui said the group expects to resume its operations in Brazil “in the second quarter of 2026”.
DigiPlus paused in mid-October the operations of its gaming platform in Brazil, less than one month after it launched them.
“After we collected a lot of data during our soft launch [period], we understand the players’ preferences, the games, and some of the market data. We will try to make some localised games for Brazil … and we might launch some live streaming games in Brazil next year,” noted the DigiPlus president.
In late September, the firm said it had “formally filed” three online-related licence applications with the Western Cape Gambling and Racing Board in South Africa.
Mr Tsui said the company would “adopt a similar approach” regarding expansion in South Africa. “First we get the licence and then we build the local team there, and we also have to conduct market research to better understand what will be the [best] product offering,” he said.
The executive added: “I would say like sometime in early 2027, we would do a soft launch in South Africa.”
