MANILA, Philippines – Tycoon Lance Gokongwei has joined the board of listed gaming technology provider PhilWeb Corporation after investing more than P2 billion into the company.

PhilWeb elected Gokongwei as a director effective July 9, replacing former vice chairperson Susana Fong, who resigned from the board. His appointment comes weeks after he agreed to invest P2.03 billion in the company in his personal capacity, rather than through the family’s JG Summit Holdings or any of its subsidiaries.

Gokongwei will acquire 159.53 million common shares and 93.84 million redeemable preferred shares at P8 each. The common shares would initially give him about 10% of PhilWeb, with his stake potentially rising to around 15% if all the preferred shares are converted into common stock.

“I am pleased to join PhilWeb as a board director at an important stage in the company’s development. Technology infrastructure, operational intelligence, compliance systems, and scalable digital platforms are becoming increasingly important across regulated digital ecosystems,” Gokongwei said in a press release on Friday, July 10.

PhilWeb said the proceeds would be used to strengthen its balance sheet and develop artificial intelligence-enabled systems for transaction monitoring, risk scoring, regulatory compliance, data analytics and operational automation.

Technology supplier to gaming operators

The company began as a mining and exploration firm in 1969. In 2000, it changed its name to PhilWeb.Com Inc. and formally changed its primary purpose to that of an internet company. It added gaming to its corporate purposes in 2002, obtained Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) authorization for e-Games Stations in 2003, and shifted its primary purpose in 2005 to providing applications and services for gaming.

In October 2025, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s brother-in-law Gregorio Araneta III sold his stake in PhilWeb for P1.8 billion. Araneta had bought 53% of the stake of the late tycoon Roberto Ongpin in PhilWeb for P2 billion in October 2016 after then-president Rodrigo Duterte identified Ongpin as one of the “oligarchs” he wanted to take down.

Nowadays, PhilWeb earns money by providing gaming platforms, content, systems integration, technical support and other services to licensed operators. PhilWeb does not operate conventional casinos, although its subsidiaries run some electronic gaming and bingo outlets.

Based on its Q1 2026 quarterly report, 126 gaming locations were operating under PhilWeb, while its network carried at least 1,600 Pagcor-approved games from four content providers. Its group also owned 18 electronic bingo locations and supplied 790 XO electric bingo machines across 47 e-bingo sites.

PhilWeb has since been trying to reposition itself as a business-to-business provider for online gaming. It secured accreditation from Pagcor in March to provide technology and operational services to licensed operators, including platform integration and regulatory compliance support.

Gokongwei’s investment may build on an existing relationship between the two sides. PhilWeb already supports the Gokongwei family-backed NUSTAR’s online gaming operations. Its other partners include the online operations of Hann Casino, Okada Manila, and Newport World Resorts.

PhilWeb has also entered agreements with gaming content and equipment providers such as FBM Philippines, PT Gaming and Pragmatic Play.

This gives PhilWeb a different position from casino owners such as Bloomberry Resorts, which operates Solaire, or Alliance Global Group, which has an interest in Newport World Resorts. Instead of relying mainly on the performance of a single casino brand, PhilWeb is seeking to earn fees and revenue by supplying technology to several operators.

PhilWeb returned to profitability only in the first quarter of 2026, after recording a P211.2-million net loss in 2025. Its full-year revenue also fell to P659.4 million from P774.6 million in 2024.

Gokongweis’ other casino bet

The PhilWeb investment is not the first venture of the wider Gokongwei family into gaming.

The family entered the sector through the P30-billion NUSTAR integrated resort in Cebu. The development is the flagship project of Universal Hotels and Resorts Incorporated, a privately held Gokongwei company focused on gaming and integrated resorts.

NUSTAR has since launched NUSTAR Online as the digital extension of its physical casino.

Gokongwei had already acknowledged in 2025 that revenue growth in physical casinos was beginning to flatten as more operators entered the market, while a larger share of gaming activity was shifting online. He said the group had launched NUSTAR Online partly in response to that changing market.

“What I see is that the total revenue pull of offline or physical casinos is already flattening out. The entire market is growing. The online portion is growing. The offline portion is flattening out. And then the offline portion, while it is flattening out, it is also getting divided because of the increasing number of casinos,” Gokongwei said in 2025, as reported by PhilStar.

The latest PhilWeb transaction could broaden that strategy. Instead of investing only in another casino or expanding NUSTAR’s physical footprint, Gokongwei is putting capital into a company that supplies technology, content, and compliance systems across the industry. – Rappler.com