A “soft” volume of tourists seeking VIP gambling is likely to make 2026 “challenging” particularly for Philippine casino resorts in Metro Manila. That is according to Enrique Razon, chairman of Bloomberry Resorts Corp, in comments reported by media following the group’s annual meeting on Thursday in the Philippine capital.
Bloomberry runs Solaire Resort & Casino at Entertainment City in Manila, and Solaire Resort North at Quezon City on the outskirts of the capital.
“The outlook for 2026 will be another challenging year for the on-premise gaming situation in the Philippines, and specifically in Metro Manila with the soft visitation of tourists for VIP gaming, which is the main area of softness,” stated Mr Razon, as cited by the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
Separately he was quoted by the Philippine Star as saying: “Our focus for the year will be on cost-cutting, becoming more efficient and disciplined in our expenditure.”
He added: “We have cut the capex [capital expenditure] budget considerably, and this will be the focus of the year, bringing down costs while improving our offerings, promotions, and marketing.”
Mr Razon added: “We hope that by 2027, we’ll see the fruits of our labour in this area.”
Both outlets mentioned plans by the firm to relaunch an online gaming platform under a new name – FUNaloMAX.
The Philippine Star cited him saying: “We are cautiously optimistic for the revenue impact of our vastly improved… platform that could go live in the coming weeks.”
A Bloomberry online gaming platform under the branding megaFUNalo! had a soft launch in June last year.
Mr Razon stated regarding the refreshed online offering: “We will push hard and market this new platform, which is more attractive for users and more user-friendly. Most of the technical issues of megaFUNalo! previously have been ironed out.”
The Inquirer cited the chairman as saying that FUNaloMAX could turn profitable as early as next year, depending on performance and sustained user growth.
In its fourth-quarter and full-year earnings announced in March, Bloomberry had said the group’s full-year earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) had been impacted by factors including “PHP723.9-million [US$12.0-million] of megaFUNalo operating expenses”.
The company said its full-year 2025 net loss stood at approximately PHP2.65 billion, compared with a net profit of PHP2.58 billion a year earlier.
Bloomberry saw its fourth-quarter net loss widen year-on-year to PHP2.81 billion, from PHP920.2 million a year.
Mr Razon had said at the time, that 2025 had itself been “a challenging year, marked by softer inbound tourism and the residual effects of the July 2024 POGO ban”, which impacted VIP and premium mass revenues. The latter was a reference to Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators, a former licensing classification discontinued by the country’s regulator.
The Bloomberry chairman was cited on Thursday by the Star as referring to data from the regulator, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (Pagcor), showing online and electronic gaming overtaking land-based gaming as the largest contributor to the country’s gross gaming revenue (GGR).
Pagcor had stated in an update that day, that online and electronic gaming combined had generated circa 50.8 percent of all Philippine gross gaming revenue in 2025.
The Star cited Mr Razon as saying: “Our signature on-premise gaming and integrated resort offerings set the benchmark for premium entertainment, while expanding our online gaming platforms extend the company’s reach and engagement. Together, these strengths reinforce Bloomberry’s leadership position and support sustainable, long-term value creation,” he said.
