The fruits of a robust online gambling industry are now trickling down to Philippines’ office market, with analysts from real estate consulting firm LeeChiu Property Consultants (LPC) expecting the sector to take up more office spaces this year.

Manila Standard reported that the online gambling industry is now the second biggest demand driver for office space in the Southeast Asian nation, closely trailing behind the country’s business process outsourcing (BPO) sector.

For this year, LPC chief executive David Leechiu estimated that the online gambling industry will take up 400,000 to 500,000 square meters of office space this year. This, according to Leechiu, would account for half of the 800,000 sqm projected takeup of the business process outsourcing industry.

“In the last 15 years, the BPO has the office market all for itself. Now, we have somebody also chasing space from the mark and that is online gaming industry and they did this practically overnight,” Leechiu said, according to the news report. “The online gaming industry could potentially reach BPO industry demand numbers within the first year of entry in the market. That’s how big the potential could be.”