PhilWeb forms P1-billion mobile lottery unit

MANILA, Philippines - PhilWeb Corp., the country’s first listed online technology firm, has set up a P1 billion company that will operate mobile lottery games as part of a strategy to expand horizons.

The new firm, PhilWeb Mobile Lottery Corp., was granted a certificate of incorporation by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Its primary purpose is to operate either alone or in partnership with others mobile-based lottery games and other related mobile game offerings.

Out of the P1 billion authorized capital stock, P250 million has been subscribed and P62.5 million paid for.

PhilWeb subscribed to P127.499 million while incorporator-director Dennis Valdes subscribed to P122.5 million.

It remains uncertain whether this new service would be done in partnership with the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office or the Philippine Amusement & Gaming Corp. (Pagcor). 

Philweb initially offered text messaging-based lottery game in 2008. The product, Txtingo Super 5, offers a daily jackpot of P10 million.

Lotto games remain to be popular nationwide amid uncertainties roiling the global economy.  The PCSO provides online lottery system through Pacific

Online Systems Corp. and Philippine Gaming Management Corp. (PGMC).  Sources said Pacific Online and PGMC had already been directed to do mobile lottery.

PGMC is the exclusive online lottery provider for Luzon while publicly-listed Pacific Online holds the franchise for the Visayas and Mindanao.

PhilWeb is a lead technology enabler of state-run Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) whose core businesses include e-Games Cafes, internet sports betting stations, mobile phone gaming, and online casino gaming.

As of end-December 2009, PhilWeb had a total of 171 e-Games Cafes with the opening of 50 last year.

Philweb, through Philweb Homeplay Inc., recently launched its latest gaming service, www.egamesonline.com.ph, the first Internet-based casino gamingwebsite. Homeplay  will offer traditional casino gameslike blackjack, baccarat, roulette and slots to Filipino players that are 21 or older.

The e-Games Online website will allow players to play from home for the first time in the Philippines. PhilWeb earlier formed a  P1 billion wholly owned unit, PhilWeb International Gaming Corp. which shall operate foreign government-franchised gaming businesses outside the Philippines beginning this year..

Given improving contributions from existing businesses as well as new investments, PhilWeb expects its net income to exceed the P1 billion mark this year.  Its other products include BasketballJackpot, Premyo Sa Resibo and the  Bid Wars mobile game.

Last year, Philweb posted a net profit  of P552 million, up 89 percent from 2008 level. The bulk of it earnings or P523 million came from core gaming operations which represented an increase of 126 percent over the previous year.  The balance of P29

million  came from PhilWeb’s equity investment in ISM Corp., amounting to P633 million.

PhilWeb registered revenues of P820 million, up 82 percent from the year earlier level, mainly driven by the opening of new e-Games cafes.

PhilWeb is an active partner of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), through the Premyo sa Resibo (PSR) raffle, which is aimed at encouraging consumers to ask for official receipts for every purchase made. PSR is a nationwide, mobile phone text-based raffle program where consumers send in data from their official receipts in exchange for electronic generated raffle entries.