MANILA, Philippines--Local gambling Firm Pacific OnlineSystems Corp. more than doubled its profit in 2009 from the previous year on the back of record sales of lottery tickets.

In a statement, the company said its profit surged by 101 percent to P263 million last year from P130 million the year before.

The company said it focused on making its product lines readily available in the market, which drove revenues to P962 million, about 20 percent higher than the P805 million in 2008.

Pacific Online, which is the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office?s (PCSO) exclusive distributor for both the Visayas and Mindanao, said it expects to do even better this year.

?The company expects to surpass its financial performance in 2009 through the continuous rollout of terminals for all on-line PCSO products nationwide, introduction of new games, more intensified marketing and distribution of instant ticket sales and wider network of retail lotto outlets,? Pacific Online said in its statement.

As a result of better financial results, the company said its board had approved a cash dividend declaration of 75 centavos a share, to be paid out in three equal transactions.

The first 25 cents per share will be released on May 6 for stockholders as of April 20, the second will be paid on Aug. 16 for investors on record as of July 23 and the third will be paid on Dec. 10 to stockholders as of Nov. 19.

Earlier this year, Pacific Online said it would earmark P100 million for the development of a new product to allow people to make lottery bets via ?text? message.