GAMING firm DFNN Inc. said it would triple the number of its terminals next year, as the company said it will spend more on its systems as it expands its operations that may include sports betting and acquiring another firm.
Ramon Garcia, the company’s president and CEO, said the company will increase its terminals to about 4,000 to 5,000 by next year from 1,500 gaming terminals by the end of the year.
“The big cost for us next year is for our data-recovery systems as mandated by the rules of Pagcor [Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.] to ensure that we operate 24/7 [24 hours a day/ seven days a week],” Garcia said.
At the moment, the company, previously known as Diversified Financial Network Inc., has about 1,300 terminals spread in about 75 outlets all over the country.
“So obviously, the key point is that as we grow the number of users they have the whole infra to be able to handle that. We should have a minimal downtime on our games on a 24/7 operations,” he said.
Garcia added that the company may also acquire a company within the gaming industry in a move to enhance its profitability and add more to its products, of mainly providing infrastructure and also equipment called electronic-gaming machines.
“We are looking at acquiring something to enhance our bottomline or our shareholder value. There are a number of times that we are looking at it but nothing concrete happened, but we are open to acquiring some companies,” he said. “There’s little left in the year. Perhaps next year, we will be a little more aggressive if it will add to our gaming products.”
Although the rollout of its gaming terminals will still be mainly in Metro Manila, the company said it will also provide some in the provinces. There are also business process-outsourcing firms that provide services to gambling firms, which the company can provide service.
As of the third quarter of the year, the company’s gross gaming revenues amounted to P117.7 million from last year’s P20.5 million that came from 487 terminals.
Garcia admitted the company is coming from a low base, but the company’s expansion is putting out of business the illegal-gaming machines, such as the “video karera,” found in some of the country’s slums. The company may also roll out sports-betting services before the year ends. “As we roll out [terminals], we can see less and less of those as these becomes legal and this is a tax-contributing endeavor,” he said.
Based on the World Count Gaming Machines in 2013, the Philippines has a ratio of 8,619 people per gaming machine, compared with Japan’s 28, the United States’s 357, Italy’s 145 and even Mexico’s 1,315.
The data counted the number of gaming machines as against the country’s population.
