MANILA, Philippines — Business operations of listed digital entertainment company DigiPlus Interactive Corp. have remained strong amid concerns surrounding online gaming in the country.
DigiPlus chairman Eusebio Tanco said “all the sound and fury outside” relating to calls for tighter regulation and a total ban on online gaming are not expected to affect the business performance of the company.
He said that while it may have affected the company’s share prices, it has not impacted its operations so far.
“Actually, operationally we were not affected. It’s the stock price that has been affected. If ever we were affected, it was that I got hurt. A lot of my fellow workers at DigiPlus were hurt, personally hurt. What have we done wrong? That’s the question,” Tanco said.
“Otherwise, operationally, it’s as usual. We’re still on target. Nothing has changed, except hurt feelings,” he said.
Celeste Jovenir, vice president of investor relations, corporate communications and sustainability at DigiPlus, said customers continue to patronize its platforms and games.
She said DigiPlus, the operator behind leading online gaming platforms such as BingoPlus, ArenaPlus and GameZone, currently has over 40 million registered users.
“It’s business as usual for us across all our platforms. There’s no impact on the operations or the level of interest from our customers,” Jovenir said.
DigiPlus, however, is hoping that lawmakers will find the right balance to regulate and not stifle the legitimate online gaming businesses while encouraging illegal operations to be part of the regulated sector.
“We’re behaving. We’re following rules. We’re legal. We follow all the rules and regulation. We are a listed company. We have good corporate governance. We report every single cent of our revenue. We pay all the taxes we need to pay. Why us? That’s the question,” Tanco said.
According to Tanco, regulated operations are likely to be just 30 percent of the total gaming market.
“You have 70 percent out there that is unregulated, that is unmonitored, no consumer protection. They don’t play by the rules,” he said.
“So I think the real culprit here is not the legal. I don’t know why we focus on the legal gaming sector. We should focus on the illegal segment of the gaming sector, not the legal ones,” he said.
Tanco said the government could easily raise another P200 billion to P300 billion if the illegal sector of the gaming industry is legalized.
In 2024, gross gaming revenues from electronic gaming stood at P154 billion.
DigiPlus said banning e-wallets from having direct links to online gambling apps and promotions, meanwhile, would only shift consumers to alternatives.
“Gambling is really in the DNA of the Filipino people. It will not go away. It will just shift from the legal to the illegal, or from the illegal to the legal. I think what we want, every one of us wants, is the illegal will shift to the legal. I think that’s the best,” Tanco said.
With President Marcos set to deliver his State of the Nation Address today, Tanco said: “I’m sure he will listen to his strong team of advisors, in the person of (Finance) Secretary Recto and (Investment and Economic Affairs Secretary) Frederick Go and the rest.”
“I think he will weigh the pros and cons. Now, if you really weigh the pros and cons, I think you try to increase the market share of the legal as against what you have now. What you have to do is just make sure everything is legal. If you make everything legal, then you generate revenue, you provide jobs, then you clean up the social ills that are brought in by the illegal gamers,” he said.
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