Philweb Corp. chairman Gregorio Araneta III says he hopes to secure a license from Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) before year end, local media reports.
Araneta over the weekend told The Manila Times that securing a Pagcor permit was “already in progress” and is expected to be completed before the end of the year.
Once the license is in place, Philweb will immediately re-operate 286 existing e-Games outlets.
“Yes [we’ll immediately re-operate] because these operators, they’re losing money. About 5,000 people are expecting this. I told Pagcor, I’m not the one who’s hurting. The business is there, the longer you keep us closed, the harder it would be for the operators, there will be lesser revenues,” Araneta said.
Currently, Pagcor takes 40.2 percent of gaming revenues from the e-Games cafes, while 28 percent goes to the operators, 2 percent to the marketers and 29 percent to Philweb.
“Anyway, bulk of the revenues goes to Pagcor. They take up the bulk, we [in PhilWeb] only get little,” he commented.
The chairman is also in talks with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding the acquisition of Roberto Ongpin’s 771.651 million PhilWeb shares for a total transaction value of P2 billion (US$40.6 million).
Asia Gaming Brief is a news and intelligence service providing up to date market information for worldwide executives on relevant gaming issues in Asia.
ASIA GAMING BRIEF
PO Box 1139, Macau SAR
Tel: +853 2871 7267
Fax: +853 2871 7264