Pacific Online boosts earnings by 68% in 7 months

MANILA, Philippines - Pacific Online Systems Corp., the exclusive online lottery system provider of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) in the Visayas and Mindanao, said yesterday its net earnings surged 68 percent in the first seven months of the year on the back of increased terminal openings and robust sales.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Pacific Online said its net income amounted to P167.7 million during the period, from P99.8 million the previous year-period.

Revenues rose 29 percent to P577.7 million from P446.7 million, largely due to the strategic roll-out of new terminals, record lotto sales and more aggressive distribution and sale of instant scratch tickets nationwide.

The continuous expansion of Lucky Circle outlets, which saw its branch network increase to a total of 100 as of the period, also boosted Pacific Online’s revenues.

Lucky Circle a subsidiary of Pacific Online, sells eight instant scratch games — Cash Machine, Golden Egg, Go Bananas, Lucky Charms, Otso-Otso, Pares-Pares and Ruby Riches all of which are sold for P20 each with a top prize of up to P200,000. Another game variant, Ruby Riches is priced at P50 with a top prize of P500,000.

Pacific Online has allotted at least P160 million for the opening of additional Lucky Circle outlets in the next few years.

The company expects sales and revenue growth to continue for the rest of the year given the increasing popularity of lotto games in light of challenging business conditions.

To further expand its reach, Pacific Online plans to deploy at least 300 terminals in 50 or more municipalities by yearend.

Pacific Online is projecting a 17-percent growth in revenues this year to P900 million, about P750 million of which will come from lotto operations while the remaining P150 million will come from the instant scratch tickets, which have become the fastest growing offerings of the PCSO.    — Zinnia Dela Peña