Solaire Resort & Casino developer and operator Bloomberry Resorts Corp. chalked up a net profit of P2.15 billion in the first quarter, a sharp turnaround from the P1.16 billion net loss in the same period last year, on record gaming volumes.
Consolidated gross gaming revenues (GGR) rose by 40 percent year-on-year in the first quarter to P10.72 billion. This also marked a 2-percent quarter-on-quarter increase, the company said in a press statement on Monday.
“We are very pleased that the turnaround and headway we experienced in 2016 continued to be felt in the first quarter of the year. We are convinced that this trending will go on for the rest of the year. Our programs on fund management, cost containment and customer engagement across the entire organization are reverting to us with winning points.” Bloomberry chair and chief executive officer Enrique K. Razon Jr. said.
In the first three months, Solaire posted new quarterly record high very important person (VIP) or high-roller bets alongside higher mass table and electronic gaming machine coin-in or bets.
Solaire’s first quarter VIP volume grew by 35 percent year-on-year to post a new all-time high. GGR from this segment grew by 60 percent year-on-year. Despite the VIP “hold” rate easing to 2.31 percent this quarter from 2.85 percent in the last quarter, the growth in volume boosted overall GGR.
A casino’s “win” or “hold” rate is based on the element of luck but is also affected by gaming limits, a player’s skill and resources and amount of time spent in the casino. While it’s often said that the house always wins, sometimes it wins more and sometimes less than the statistical probability.
Bets on mass table and electronic gaming machines also posted year-on-year growth rates of 24 percent and 26 percent, respectively, to also hit new record quarterly highs.
Meanwhile, the company’s Korean operations via Jeju Sun Hotel & Casino reported its first ever profitable quarter with P324 million in profits although this was mainly due to foreign exchange gains. While the Korean business only contributed around 1-percent of total GGR, Jeju Sun was able to generate a 153 percent year-on-year increase in GGR to P59 million despite less promotional allowances.
Bloomberry’s non-gaming revenues in the quarter also grew by 41 percent to P786 million on a year-on-year basis. The successful showing of musical Wicked at The Theatre at Solaire was cited as one of the strong drivers of Solaire’s non-gaming revenues. Hotel occupancy also improved to 92.6 percent from 88.9 percent in the previous quarter and 84.9 percent in the same quarter last year.