Philippine gaming group PH Resorts released its financial report for the second quarter and first half of 2025, showing a net loss of 11.6 billion Philippine pesos (approximately $116 million), a staggering increase of over 1200% year-over-year. The primary reason for the loss was the repossession of its flagship luxury casino resort "Emerald Bay" located on Mactan Island in Cebu.
Originally built with an investment of $300 million and covering 12.4 hectares, Emerald Bay is strategically located just minutes away from the Cebu International Airport and was considered one of the most promising casino resorts in the Philippines. In 2023, due to debt pressures, PH Resorts mortgaged Emerald Bay to the Bank of China, retaining a buy-back right of 9.9 billion pesos, but failed to find a strategic investor to take over, leading to its repossession by the Bank of China in March this year. This resulted in the evaporation of 23.6 billion pesos in assets and the settlement of 14.9 billion pesos in liabilities.
In the second quarter, PH Resorts' revenue was 6.2 million pesos, down 23.4% year-over-year, with total income of 2.4 million pesos, a decrease of 46.8%. The operating loss was about 25 million pesos, a reduction of 5 million pesos from the same period last year. However, losses from Emerald Bay exceeded 7 billion pesos, bringing the net loss to 6.47 billion pesos.
For the first half of the year, total income was 17.4 million pesos, down 12.7% year-over-year; room revenue was 9.8 million pesos, down 25%, while food and beverage and other income saw slight increases. Total cost expenditures were 8.5 million pesos, but the operating loss still reached 63.4 million pesos. Including the losses from Emerald Bay, the cumulative net loss for the first half of the year was 6.74 billion pesos.
Currently, PH Resorts only operates the small Donatela Resort & Sanctuary on Bohol Island, which is insufficient to alleviate the overall financial pressure. Analysts believe that the loss of Emerald Bay is a fatal blow to the group, and it may face pressures to completely transform, sell assets, or introduce external capital in the future, while the market is also paying attention to the financial transactions with the contractor EEI Corp.
The failure of the Emerald Bay project is not only a heavy blow to PH Resorts but also serves as a warning bell for the Philippine gaming industry.
