EARNINGS: Lotto system provider's nine-month profits up 8%

Pacific Online Systems Corp., the exclusive lotto system provider of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) in the Visayas and Mindanao, said its nine-month consolidated profits this year grew by eight percent from a year ago. Pacific Online's profits reached P220 million as of September this year due to increased lotto sales. Lotto sales in the January-September 2010 period rose year-on-year by two percent to P5.84 billion despite the brownouts in Visayas and Mindanao (Vis-Min). In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Pacific Online said it posted in October its highest Vis-Min monthly lotto sales for the year, which amounted to P814 million. Rhederick Inciong, Pacific Online chief financial officer, said the company is on track to meet its net income target of P300 million this year. "Pacific Online has been focusing on making PCSO's product lines readily available in the market, in line with the government's directive to stamp out illegal gambling," he said. Pacific Online expects to surpass its financial performance in 2009 through the "continuous roll-out of terminals, introduction of new games, intensified marketing, and wider network of retail lotto outlets," Inciong said. The record high Grand Lotto 6/55 jackpot, now at P383 million, has been credited for the increase in lotto sales. — JE/VVP, GMANews.TV