Suntrust Resort Holdings, the original developer and now minority shareholder in soon-to-open Westside Resort in Manila’s Entertainment City precinct, has flagged the potential to enter the country’s online gaming space as a licensed Gaming System Administrator.
The company’s Chief Financial Officer, Yip Ho Chi, revealed the move on Tuesday in response to an inquiry by the Philippine Stock Exchange concerning Suntrust’s negative stockholders’ equity as reflected in its Quarterly Report for the period ended 31 March 2026.
Under PAGCOR’s new regulatory framework, a Gaming System Administrator refers to a platform provider to online gaming operators, responsible for providing and maintaining gaming platforms, hosting and operating the games made available to licensed operators, managing accounts and wallets, and providing ongoing support. Previously known as a Gaming System Service Provider, the new type of accreditation reflects the broader responsibilities companies now have for administering and overseeing gaming systems rather than simply supplying them.
In response to the PSE’s inquiry, Yip noted that the negative stockholders’ equity was mainly due to pre-operating, financing and related costs over the prolonged construction and development phase of Westside Resort, as well the classification of convertible bonds issued to related parties such as its parent company LET Group and LET’s subsidiary Summit Ascent Holdings which have not yet been converted into Suntrust shares.
To address, this, Yip has outlined a series of actions in the coming months, including the pending opening of Westside Resort – scheduled for 3Q26 – the conversion of the bonds, the potential issue of more stock and additional equity fund-raising.
However, he also highlighted the “potential accreditation of the company’s relevant project entity as a PAGCOR-accredited Gaming System Administrator” – likely an initiative aimed at capitalizing on the Philippines’s growing domestic online gaming industry.
As first reported by Inside Asian Gaming, Suntrust – which had struggled to complete financing for the US$1.25 billion Westside Resort – last year signed a “strategic working agreement” with Newport World Resorts operator Travellers International Hotel Group Inc and associated companies through which Travellers has assumed a controlling stake in the project in order to expedite its completion.
This saw a new operating entity for Westside created called Entertainment City Resorts Corporation (ECRC), which is 50% owned by Travellers parent Alliance Global Group and 50% by another new company called Westside Bayshore Holding Corporation (WBHC).
Suntrust owns 40% of WBHC, giving it an effective 20% stake in Westside Resort.
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