Preview started December 21
When it formally opens later this month, Okada Manila will be the largest integrated resort complex in the Philippines. The 44-hectare (109-acre) casino complex, the third of four such developments slated for Entertainment City in Manila, will officially debut February 17.
Okada Manila includes a total floor area of 34,321 square meters (369,000 square feet) and features more than 500 table games and 3,000 electronic gaming machines. Its Y-shaped hotel includes two wings with 993 rooms. According to the Inquirer newspaper, the resort also features a dancing fountain “comparable to the Dubai Fountain and the Fountains of Bellagio in Las Vegas” as well as Asia’s first nightclub/indoor beach club; a luxury spa; and several food and beverage outlets.
The grand opening was delayed several times, prompting Tiger Resorts, Leisure and Entertainment Inc. to stage a December 21 preview of the gaming floor. The move was taken in part to avoid a P100 million (US$200 million) fine for missing the resorts’ 2016 opening deadline, the publication reported.
A project of Japanese pachinko tycoon Kazuo Okada, the development originally called Manila Bay Resorts was originally scheduled for completion at the end of March 2015. It joins two other resorts in Entertainment City: Bloomberry Resorts’ Solaire Resort & Casino, which opened in March 2013 and Melco Crown Entertainment’s City of Dreams Manila, which opened in February 2015. The fourth IR will be Resorts World Bayshore, a joint venture of Genting Hong Kong and Alliance Global Inc. It is expected to be complete in 2018.
Okada Manila should be a welcome addition to the market. According to GGRAsia, strong junket and VIP demand contributed to healthy growth in GGR in the jurisdiction in the fourth quarter of 2016.
“Despite political pressure on Chinese nationals and increased violence related to the Philippine government’s crackdown on drug traffickers, we estimate market revenues grew in excess of 40 percent in fourth quarter 2016,” said Harry C. Curtis, Daniel Adam and Brian H. Dobson of Japanese brokerage Nomura.
The analysts say overall demand in the Manila gaming market “may continue to increase more than the supply growth.” Integrated resorts in Manila recorded overall GGR of PHP22.61 billion (US$454.9 million) in the third quarter of 2016, up 19.8 percent compared to PHP18.88 billion in the previous year.
