PhilWeb Corp. is earmarking up to P80 million for capital expenditures (capex) this year, mainly to finance the establishment of more Pagcor e-Games cafés (Pegs).

PhilWeb has put up 145 Pegs. “We plan to end the year with about 200 e-cafés. There is strong demand for such and the global financial crisis has not affected our business at all,” said Dennis Valdez, PhilWeb president.

The company’s café-casino business is its main revenue driver. In 2008, revenues totaled P450 million, 68-percent higher than the previous year. Majority of these revenues were generated by its core Pegs business.

e-Games is the gaming portal for the Internet-based games of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) and  PhilWeb. Café clients are offered a wide selection of card, table, video poker, slot machine and lottery-type games.

“This year, PhilWeb will post better performance. It will be better than last year. We are looking at posting a core net income of about P500 million,” said Valdez.

PhilWeb made P231 million in core net income last year. It had previously reported that 2008 was the best year ever for the company, with monthly records set for total gross bets of P5.5 billion and casino win of P167 million in their Pagcor e-Games Café network alone. Other business lines, like Basketball Jackpot and mobile games such as Premyo Sa Resibo, also showed strong results.

“By the end of 2009, as a result of our continued strong profitability, we expect to have positive retained earnings on our balance sheet. This financial situation when combined with our robust cash position, brings into play the prospect of distributing dividends to stockholders,” added Valdez.

PhilWeb is also considering acquiring companies involved in the gaming industry.