Responding to growth by Bloomberry
The Philippine partner in the City of Dreams Manila resort hopes to expand the footprint of its 6.2-hectare (15.3-acre) casino resort, which it said is already operating at “full capacity.”
Willy Ocier, vice chairman of Belle Corp., recently told local media that the company is planning to invest in real estate “within that area or anywhere else outside Metro Manila.” First it will develop Belle’s existing 8,500-square-meter property near the $1.13 billion City of Dreams, a project of Melco Crown Philippines.
“We are looking for neighboring site or land continuous with CoD,” Ocier said. “We are open also to a joint venture partnership.”
City of Dreams Manila opened in December 2014 and reported net revenues of $491.2 million in 2016, up from the $300.4 million in the prior year. VIP gaming volume at the resort grew 110.1 percent to $6.83 billion, while the mass market segment was up 24.7 percent to $550.5 million in volume.
After Belle Corp. locates a development tract, it will apply for a second gaming license with state regulator Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. “We have applied for a second site in line with the fact that our licensee partners have second sites,” Ocier told Business World. “We are applying based on the policy of level playing field.”
According to GGRAsia, one motivation for the expansion could be similar plans by Enrique Razon’s Bloomberry Resorts to develop a casino in Quezon City. Bloomberry operates the Solaire Casino and Resort in Manila’s Entertainment City.
Melco has disputed reports of an expansion plan, but Belle issued a statement saying it “confirms the quotes in the news article.”
“We note, however, that any matters regarding expansion of City of Dreams Manila are still being explored at this time, and no definite plans have been made as of yet,” the statement continued.
Belle leases out land and buildings for City of Dreams Manila. Through an entity called Premium Leisure Corp., it is entitled to a share of gaming revenue from that casino resort.
