THE FIRST quarter of the year remained challenging for Philippine integrated gaming resort operators as most casino houses were less lucky on their high-roller business segments, tracking the downturn across the region.
Bloomberry Resorts—owner and operator of the Solaire Resort and Casino along Manila Bay and Jeju Sun Hotel and Casino in South Korea—incurred a net loss of P1.16 billion in the first three months, double the P533 million net loss incurred in the same period last year.
Travellers International Hotel Group Inc. (TIHGI)—owner and operator of Resorts World Manila—saw a 31-percent decline in first quarter net profit to P1.2 billion.
“With the current state of the gaming industry here and across the region, TIHGI remains focused on pursuing quality of earnings for its shareholders by building on the non-VIP (very important person) segment as well as expanding its non-gaming portfolio,” TIHGI said in a statement.
TIHGI’s gross gaming revenues ended the quarter at P5.6 billion, down by 17.8 percent year-on-year which the company attributed to a lower “win” rate.
Bloomberry’s gross gaming revenues likewise fell by 5 percent to P7.65 billion.
Bloomberry said Solaire’s gaming business remained robust with all-time high VIP volume and electronic gaming machine (EGM) coin-in recorded during the quarter.
Total revenues of Bloomberry for the quarter fell by 10 percent year-on-year to P5.73 billion.
Bloomberry’s non-gaming revenues rose 50 percent year-on-year to P557 million due to a significant 26-percent increase in Solaire’s hotel revenue per available room coupled with hotel occupancy rising to 85 percent from 76 percent year-on-year. Korean operations contributed P61 million to non-gaming revenues for the quarter, accounting for 11 percent of the total.
TIHGI’s non-gaming revenues that included hotel, food and beverage, and other revenues posted positive year-on-year results with a 26 percent increase to P982 million, driven by the completion and 100 percent operations of the Marriot Grand Ballroom.
All three hotels—Maxims Hotel, Remington Hotel, and Marriott Hotel Manila which had a total room count of 1,226—registered average occupancy rate of above 83 percent.
Meanwhile, it was earlier reported that Melco Crown Philippines—which owns half of the gaming operations of City of Dreams Manila—incurred a three-month net loss of P1.13 billion, although this was smaller than the net loss of P3.09 billion in the same period last year.