The original developer of the Manila Entertainment City West Resort, Xintai Resort Holdings, is playing a card that is drastically different from the past. The company's CFO, Ye Haozhi, recently disclosed in a response to an inquiry from the Philippine Stock Exchange that Xintai intends to apply for a PAGCOR-certified gaming system administrator qualification, entering the fast-growing online gaming track in the Philippines. The timing of this signal release is quite intriguing—the company's Q1 financial report just revealed abnormal data with negative shareholder equity, and after a stock restructuring, Xintai's actual shareholding in the **$1.25 billion West Resort has been reduced to 20%**. PASA's official website noted that from full development to participating shareholders and then applying for an online technical service license, Xintai's transformation path outlines a complete sample of a physical resort company seeking a light-asset way out in a capital dilemma.
"Gaming system administrator" is what? The technical hub controlling online operations
Many people are unfamiliar with this title. According to the latest regulatory framework of PAGCOR, this qualification has been upgraded and renamed from the original gaming system service provider, with significantly expanded boundaries of authority and responsibility. In the past, such companies only provided hardware systems, but now the licensed party needs to be fully responsible for the construction and maintenance of the online gaming platform, game hosting, user account and wallet management, and provide full-cycle technical support to licensed operators. In other words, whoever obtains this license will have a considerable degree of control over the core technology of online gaming operations.
Ye Haozhi also explained the financial pressure in his response to the inquiry. The main reasons for Xintai's negative shareholder equity come from two aspects: one is the early operating costs and financing interest accumulated during the long construction period of the West Resort, and the other is the convertible bonds issued to the parent company LET Group and subsidiary Peak Ascent Holdings have not yet been converted into shares, which further magnifies the financial pressure on the books. To turn around the situation, Xintai has planned a set of combination punches—core measures include the official operation of the West Resort scheduled to open in the third quarter of 2026, the completion of equity replacement of existing convertible bonds, targeted issuance of new shares, and supplementing cash flow through equity financing. And laying out online gaming qualifications is an incremental layout on top of this plan to get out of trouble.
From 100% to 20%: Strategic turnaround after equity dilution
The West Resort has not been doing well in the past few years. This large-scale integrated resort with a total investment of **$1.25 billion has been deeply mired in financing difficulties until last year when it welcomed a key turning point—a strategic cooperation agreement was signed with the well-known cultural and tourism operator New World Resort's parent company Travelers International Hotel Group, which obtained controlling rights. After the equity restructuring, the new operating entity, Entertainment City Resort Company (ECRC), was officially established, held by Alliance Global Group and West Bay Gulf Holdings Company each holding 50%**. Xintai only holds 40% of WBHC equity, which translates to an actual final shareholding of 20% in the West Resort, from originally being a fully-funded developer to a minority shareholder.
"From fully-funded development to participating in shareholding, and now seeking online gaming qualifications, Xintai's transformation strategy is already very clear." PASA's official website believes that in the context of weakened discourse power in physical projects and financial pressure on the books, entering the online technical service track with a PAGCOR compliant license not only leverages industry dividends to increase revenue but also maximizes the activation of Xintai's own resources accumulated over many years in the Philippine gaming circle. As the Philippine online gaming regulatory system becomes more and more complete, the scarcity of such licensed system service providers is becoming more apparent. If Xintai successfully completes the qualification certification, it is highly likely to become the first enterprise in Manila Entertainment City to layout both physical resorts and online gaming technical services—a cross-end identity itself, which may be its biggest chip to turn the situation around from difficulties.
————
This article comes from "PASA-Global iGaming Leader" gambling industry news channel:https://t.me/pasa_news
Original deep gambling channel:https://t.me/gamblingdeep
Free data report: @pasa_research
PASA Matrix: @pasa002_bot
PASA official website: https://www.pasa.news
