The Solaire Resort and Casino, operated by Bloomberry Resorts Corp., stands illuminated at night in Manila.
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Bloomberry Resorts Corp.—controlled by billionaire Enrique Razon Jr.—is ramping up its online gaming platform as the casino operator posted its biggest quarterly loss in five years.
The company said it swung to a net loss of 1.4 billion pesos ($24.7 million) in the second quarter (compared to a net profit of 1.4 billion pesos a year ago) as VIP and mass gross gaming revenues at its flagship Solaire Resort in Pasay City, near the country’s airport, declined. At the same time, the group’s operating expenses jumped 21% to 12 billion pesos during the period, it added.
The last time Bloomberry was in the red was in the second quarter of 2020, when widespread lockdowns and travel restrictions resulted in a record 4.7-billion-peso net loss.
Amid declining revenues at its brick and mortar casinos, Bloomberry is scaling up its online gaming platform (which started taking bets in June) incurred operating expenses of 461 million pesos during the quarter. “In the coming months, we will introduce more content and enhancements to the platform that will strengthen its competitiveness,” Bloomberry Chairman and CEO Razon said in a statement.
Bloomberry now has to compete with tycoon Eusebio Tanco’s DigiPlus, which saw net profit increase 31% to 4.2 billion pesos in the second quarter quarter from a year ago. DigiPlus, which offers online bingo, sports betting and internet-based casino games, has over 40 million registered users.
With a net worth of $1.2 billion, Tanco also has interests in education, logistics and shipping.
Razon is among the wealthiest in the Philippines with a real-time net worth of $12.4 billion. Aside from Bloomberry, he has stakes in global port operator ICTSI as well as in energy, mining and water utilities.
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