Philippine business tycoon Enrique Razon revealed plans to build an integrated casino resort in metropolitan Manila. The businessman currently owns gambling operator Bloomberry Resorts Corp., the company behind Solaire Resort and Casino, the first integrated resort that has been launched within Manila’s Entertainment City complex.
Mr. Razon said in an interview for local media that the new casino will be constructed in Quezon City, located in the northern part of metro-Manila. Construction work is expected to start sometime in the middle of 2017, with the resort likely to be completed and launched in 2019. Apart from a gambling floor, the property will also include a hotel, shops, and a convention center. Said otherwise, the complex will feature all the facilities a typical integrated resort does.
The Philippine businessman does not seem to be concerned by the crackdown on online gambling newly elected President Rodrigo Duterte initiated shortly after assuming post. In fact, Mr. Razon told local media that such a crackdown is actually good for the industry as a whole and would help the land-based casino sector attract even more customers.
The casino owner noted that his Solaire Resort and Casino property is currently working at “full capacity” and that an increase in the number of Chinese visitors has been registered in the months after President Duterte took on his role. As a reason for this, Mr. Razon pointed to the fact that the newly elected head has been working actively towards the improvement of the Philippines’ relations with China.
According to government data, there was an overall increase in tourist arrivals in the first half of the year. There were almost 3 million international visitors to come to the Philippines during the reviewed period, up 14% from the previous year. Tourists from South Korea, the US, and China were the most frequent international arrivals.
Over the first six months of 2016, total gambling revenue in the country also increased significantly from the prior-year period. PAGCOR, the Philippine casino regulator (and operator), reported a 24% growth in half-year revenue.
Mr. Razon’s Bloomberry Resorts also benefited from the overall improvement. Revenue for the first half of the year increased 17%. Chinese high rollers and visitors from South Korea comprised the greater part of Solaire Resort and Casino’s visitors over the period in review.
With Macau being avoided by Mainland China well-to-do players due to an ongoing anti-graft campaign, the Philippines is looking to turn into Asia’s next major gambling hub. As part of this effort, the country had undertaken a large-scale project of adding four multi-billion-dollar integrated resorts in Manila’s Entertainment City complex. Two of them – Solaire Resort and Casino and City of Dreams Manila have already been launched.
