Okada Manila says its ‘Okada Play’ online platform had US$1.6mln-plus GGR in October, best month since May launch

The “Okada Play” online gaming platform surpassed PHP100 million (US$1.58 million) in gross gaming revenue in October, representing a circa 50-percent month-on-month increase. That is according to a joint statement on Tuesday from the Okada Manila casino resort in the Philippine capital – the source of the gaming licensing for Okada Play – and PhilWeb Corp, the business-to-business service provider for the online product. The number of daily active users for Okada Play exceeded 100,000 in October, per the update. Okada Manila is promoted by Tiger Resort, Leisure and Entertainment Inc (TRLEI), a unit of Japanese leisure conglomerate Universal Entertainment Corp. Okada Play had a formal launch in May. It is supported by PhilWeb’s online gaming platform (OGP), and currently offers more than 4,000 gaming titles from over 20 “integrated gaming content providers”, according to the Tuesday release. Okada Manila and PhilWeb are respectively regulated by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (Pagcor). Nobuki Sato, Okada Manila’s president and chief operating officer, was cited as saying in the update: “Surpassing PHP100 million in monthly GGR and reaching more than 100,000 daily active users within six months of launch is an encouraging milestone for Okada Play.” He added: “We welcome this achievement as an important step in the company’s digital growth strategy.” Mr Sato was also quoted stating: “As the [Okada Play] platform enters its next phase of growth, we look forward to further expanding our offerings, reaching more customers, and continuing to deliver the premium experience associated with Okada Manila.” Okada Play is designed to “mitigate the impact of fluctuations” in the performance of the bricks and mortar casino and of “visitor numbers” to the land-based operation, while helping the casino resort attract “new customer segments”. So said Universal Entertainment Corp, in its second-quarter earnings report issued in August. The Tuesday release quoted PhilWeb’s chairman, Philippine enterpreneur Lance Gokongwei, as stating: “Okada Play’s strong performance demonstrates what can be achieved when a leading integrated resort brand is supported by scalable technology infrastructure.” “We are encouraged by the significant acceleration in October and believe the platform is well-positioned for its next phase of growth,” the businessman added. The Tuesday announcement mentioned PhilWeb’s expectation that before year-end, online gaming platforms operated by PhilWeb with “other partner brands” – understood to mean other land-based Philippine casinos – could also achieve “monthly GGR milestones” of PHP100 million.