It was reported that City of Dreams Manila will probably have its official launch on February 2. It seems that a ticket company, which is related to an investor in the gambling venue, advertises tickets for the grand opening.
Back in December, the Philippines-based casino had its soft opening. According to local industry experts, its official launch will coincide with the start of a special advertising campaign which aims at alluring foreign high rollers to the venue.
As it was announced, Melco Crown, owner of City of Dreams Manila, will have to share some of its revenue from gambling activities with local partners. Profits from non-gaming activities, however, will remain for the operator.
When approached by media, spokespersons for Melco Crown refused to comment whether the venue will officially open doors on the above-mentioned date.
The tickets advertisement appeared on SM Tickets’ site earlier today.
SM Tickets is part of SM Lifestyle Entertainment Inc., which, in turn, is controlled by SM Investments Corp., a business entity that was established by Henry Sy. Mr. Sy and his family are related to the so-called Premium Leisure Corp., a company that holds shares in City of Dreams Manila.
Premium Leisure Corp. fully owns Premium Leisure and Amusement Inc., which is a member of the consortium that actually holds the casino’s license. Local media describes City of Dreams Manila as a multimillion, multi-phase luxurious resort.
In fact, the project was estimated to cost about $1.3 billion.
On Monday, Mr. Lawrence Ho, Melco Crown’s co-chairman, pointed out that he was particularly happy with his company’s involvement in City of Dreams Manila. According to him, the project has already proved to be really successful. As previously announced, the businessman also revealed a few more details about the Studio City resort, which is located on Macau’s Cotai Strip and is most likely to open doors sometime in mid-2015.
Back in December 2014, Standard & Poor’s Financial Services LLC, an American provider of various financial services, issued a special report on the Philippines gambling industry. According to it, gaming revenue will probably mark an extremely fast growth.
In July, the International Monetary Fund pointed out that it expected the Philippine economy to mark a 6.5% growth. A few months later, it released an additional forecast, where the country’s economic growth was pointed to be most likely to reach 6.3%. The organization defined the currently stagnant global economy as the main reason for this change.
