The Philippine’s gambling authorities have taken the decision of fining the Japanese Universal Entertainment Corp in case the plan for opening a casino, located in the vicinity of Manila Bay turns out to be unsuccessful. That’s the official statement of the local gambling regulator.
The Philippine branch of the gaming giant Universal, owned by Kazuo Okada, is called Tiger Resorts Leisure and Entertainment Inc. According to the managers, the casino project will start in 2016 instead of 2015.
Christino Naguiat, the chairman of Tiger Resorts, confirmed that if they do not stick to the initial agreement, the company will have no choice but to put up with a financial penalty, equal to $2,2 million. That’s the sum, the Tiger Resorts have paid to the regulator in order to guarantee that they will keep their promise for establishing a casino resort in Manila Bay. Any attempt for disregarding the agreement would result in losing their money.
Naguiat made a brief announcement on Tuesday and said that according to the initial plan, the casino should be finished no later than March 2015. Apart from the risk of losing a huge amount of money, Tiger Resorts may face up another legal issues but the company’s attorneys are currently investigating the matter. Tiger’s representatives remained reluctant to reveal more details though.
Tiger Inc. is one of the companies that is enabled to operate in the popular Entertainment City – the Philippine alternative of Las Vegas and the other gaming Mecca – Macau.
The company’s authorities are still tight lipped and refuse commenting the reason why such an important to the both sides project, which started two years ago, is likely to be suspended. The local gambling regulator announced that one of the rules, Tiger Resorts disobeyed, was the one that requires the company to find a local partner and process the land ownership procedures.
2012 was the year when Okada’s company was accused of violating this law as well. The violation of the constitution was confirmed by a representative of the Philippine justice department.
Three more companies are enabled to provide their products and services within the Entertainment City. Bloombery Resorts Corp started the building procedures of its casino last year. The investment is estimated to be $1,2 billion.
The City Dreams Manila is a project that costs the Melco Crown Entertainment and Belle Corp more than $1 billion. The venue will most probably open doors for customers this year.
The fourth casino project, that got a building permission form the Philippine gambling regulators, is the one proposed by Genting Hong Kong Ltd and Alliance Global Group Inc. The two companies established the Travellers International Hotel Group Inc. and their project is expected to be completed in the next four years.
