Three months, three buys
In an August 7 filing with the Philippine Stock Exchange, gaming technology provider PhilWeb Corp. disclosed that its unit, BigGame Inc., acquired the eGames site of I-3 Gamers Inc. in Cagayan de Oro City for 225,000 PhilWeb shares.
According to ABS-CBN News, it’s the third eGames site PhilWeb has bought from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., the state-run regulator-operator. Last month, BigGame acquired an eGames site in Mandaue City and in June, bought a similar business in Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu. PhilWeb plans to acquire 15 internet cafés before the end of the year by using 7.5 million shares currently kept in treasury.
The company once provided PAGCOR with software and associated facilities for the eGames network. That association was severed in 2016 after the election of President Rodrigo Duterte, who vowed to abolish all online gaming concerns and started with PhilWeb, Macau Business reported. Duterte has since eased his position on eGames, preferring to regulate and tax them rather than lose the revenue altogether.
In related news, PAGCOR just opened its Casino Filipino Manila Bay at the Rizal Park Hotel, despite controversy over its lease contract, reports GGRAsia. House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez has questioned PAGCOR’s lease contract with Vanderwood Management Corp., saying the regulator paid the company P234 million in rent even though the casino site was not yet completed. PAGCOR countered that it would save P200 million in yearly rental fees under the terms of the deal with Vanderwood. It said the monthly rental of P13 million was less than half of what it paid at the casino’s former site.
Auditors forbade the advance payment, and the money reportedly was returned.
