American company looking for its first Asian operation

Harrah’s Entertainment is poised to launch its first Asian operation if the rumors about its involvement with the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.’s (PAGCOR) the 800-hectare Bagong Nayong Pilipino Manila Bay Entertainment City resort project is true. Reports last week surfaced that Harrah’s is in “the advanced negotiation level” with the developers of the casino resort, Belle Corp. and Leisure & Resorts World Corp. (LRWC), which own Premium Leisure and Amusement Inc. (PLAI), the company building the property.

According to LRWC’s majority owner and former president, Alfredo “Albee” Benitez, Harrah’s has the edge over two competitors because of the strength of its brands. Benitez says company’s Planet Hollywood brand would be used for the casino resort. The first phase, estimated to cost $300 million, would be a 100,000-square-foot casinos, with 1,500 slot machines and 250 table games, surrounded by 100 VIP suites to accommodate players. A second phase includes two 500-room hotel towers. PLAI has committed to spending $1 billion over 25 years on the project. Completion of the first phase is expected to completed in the third quarter of 2011.

“The Philippines is very poor in junket operations” said Benitez. “With the advent of this kind of project and investment, we would like to hold a very big share of junket operations.”

Benitez recently resigned his post at LRWC after being elected the congressman from the third district of Negros Occidental.

Belle, which is majority-owned by mall magnate Henry Sy, entered the gaming market only recently when it bought PLAI from SM Commercial Properties, which owns the Mall of Asia, a huge retail development adjacent to the Entertainment City project. While Belle will build the casino resort, SM is responsible for non-gaming attractions, including hotels, a sports arena, museum and an oceanarium.

Megawide Construction Corp. has been named as the general contractor for the project. The company said the foundation has already been poured and the first tower could be completed within a year.

Meanwhile, a second casino resort in the Bagong Nayong Pilipino-Entertainment City complex broke ground recently. The Solaire, owned by Bloombury Investments Holdings Inc. and port operator Enrique Razon Jr., will be a $557 million casino resort project, featuring two five-star luxury hotel towers of over 1,000 rooms along with an entertainment and convention facility.

“Aside from catapulting the Philippines into becoming a key player in the tourism, hospitality and entertainment industries, the project will make Filipinos proud for having a world class leisure hub that will showcase the best that the country can offer,” Bloombury chair Razon said in a statement. “Entertainment City Manila will rival leisure hubs in the region such as those in Macau, Malaysia, and of late, Singapore.”

The first phase of Solaire is expected to open in the third quarter of 2012.

Two other companies also have permits from PAGCOR to build and operate at the Entertainment City site: Travellers International Hotel Group, Inc., the partnership between the Andrew L. Tan-led Alliance Global, Inc. and casino-resort operator Genting Hong Kong Ltd.; and Universal Entertainment, the Japanese company controlled by Kazuo Okada, the largest shareholder in Wynn Resorts.

For Harrah’s, it’s just the latest in a series of rumors about the company getting involved in Asia. Shut out of Macau by its chief rivals, Wynn, MGM and Las Vegas Sands, Harrah’s is anxious to get operating in Asia. In addition to Macau, there have been reports that the company is looking into operations in Cambodia and Vietnam. And the company plans a major push for gaming in Japan and Taiwan.

By Staff