Manila Jockey Club to place OTBs in its casinos soon

Alfonso Reyno III, executive vice president and chief operating officer of MJCI, said the MOU will allow for establishment of OTBs in the 13 casinos and 18 VIP clubs that Pagcor operates nationwide.

"We are working to open some of them by December, in time for the Presidential Gold Cup and eventually in all casinos by 2012. It is a win-win situation for both sides. Pagcor will get more player traffic in their casinos while we expand the reach of our OTBs and improve the betting access for quality punters," Reyno said.

San Lazaro will close the year by holding two of the biggest and most highly anticipated events in the country’s horseracing calendar – the Presidential Gold Cup and the Vice President Binay Alay Sa Kawal stakes races.

With the MOU it signed with Pagcor, MJCI is looking for the same success it had when it established an OTB inside the Resorts World casino in August. "When it was launched in mid-August, compared to other OTBs, it was in 30th spot in terms of sales. But in September, it climbed to sixth spot. In October, it had risen to fourth," Reyno said.

The Resorts World OTB is posting sales of us$ 10.5 million monthly, which is near the average sales of us$ 10.9 million from its highest-grossing OTBs. Aside from Resorts World, MJCI’s top 10 OTBs are in densely populated locations including Manila, Quezon City, and Pasay City.

The MOU was also signed by Philippine Racing Club, which operates the Sta. Ana Park also in Cavite. Meanwhile, Reyno said they are also expecting to post strong numbers next year after seeing relatively flat growth over the last two years.

This year, MJCI is expecting revenues from horseracing to reach us$ 91.3 million a slight uptick from 2010 when sales reached us$ 8.9 billion.

For 2012, MJCI will be aggressive in pushing horseracing with expansion in the number of OTBs in terms of quality locations and discuss with the Philippine Racing Commission the possibility of adding more races. Currently, it has 263 OTBs strategically located in the National Capital Region and in nearby provinces. MJCI is expected to complete 155 horseracing days this year.