China-centric online casinos vacated half of their offices in the Philippine capital during the COVID-19 pandemic, as travel restrictions, taxes and precarious relations between the two countries throttled their operations.
They occupied 677,000m2 of Metro Manila office space in the fourth quarter of last year, down from 1.3 million square meters at the start of 2020, Colliers International said.
Some online gaming operators left because of travel restrictions, new taxes and uncertainty over Philippine-China relations as the Southeast Asian nation is set to elect a new president in May, Dom Fredrick Andaya, senior director at Colliers in Manila, said in a briefing yesterday.
Before the pandemic, the US$8 billion industry and its tens of thousands of migrant workers boosted property prices across Metro Manila and its surrounds. Operators employ mostly Chinese to answer queries and process payments for clients who place bets on livestreamed games of baccarat and fan-tan.
Andaya said 18.9 percent of Manila’s workspace might end up vacant this year and the next, as nearly 1.5 million square meters of office space would be added through next year.
Vacancy might ease should online casinos return and add to demand from outsourcing companies, he said.
COVID-19 infections in the Philippines could fall as abruptly as they rose.
After an exponential rise in infections gripped Manila last month, the daily case count has fallen significantly, as the number of tests also fell.
As travel restrictions ease, “it’s really up to Philippine-China relations, with respect to the level of tolerance in allowing the industry to prosper,” Andaya said.
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