Bloomberry plans new project in Quezon City
Lawmakers in the Philippines should put a stop to the expansion of casinos outside Entertainment City in Manila, says one owner who invested heavily in the complex. According to the Inquirer, the plea to limit casino expansion came from Belle Corp. Vice Chairman Willy Ocier. Belle and the SM Group owns City of Dreams Manila, operated by Macau’s Melco Crown Entertainment.
Ocier was responding to a comment by Enrique Razon Jr., owner of the Solaire Resort and Casino at Entertainment City, who said his company may break ground on a new casino project in Quezon City north of Metro Manila next year.
“We spent more than $1 billion in City of Dreams,” Ocier said. “If the government allows smaller casinos, here, there, everywhere, it defeats the purpose of why we are here, an integrated casino.” Ocier said the country’s regulatory body, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., should “direct all traffic to Entertainment City.”
“That’s where the infrastructure is concentrated,” he said. “I don’t mind competing in that environment where casinos are together. People will jump from one casino to another.” He added that Belle will have to “make adjustments in terms of our projections and strategies if Razon’s group is allowed to put up a casino in Quezon City.”
Belle announced strong results in 2015 as it recorded revenues of P5.2 billion, up 64 percent, while recurring profit was at P1.3 billion, up 29 percent.
In the next two years, two more multibillion-dollar integrated casinos—Manila Bay Resorts and Resorts World Bayshore—are opening in Entertainment City, the country’s response to regional gaming hubs in Macau and Singapore.
Meanwhile, a new casino is about to open in the Clark Freeport Zone, in Pampanga on Luzon Island, about 40 miles from Manila, reported GGRAsia. The Midori Clark Hotel and Casino will open with 12 gaming tables and 140 machines, and will eventually have 39 tables and 160 machines. The 9,900-square-meter (106,500-square-foot) property will have 111 hotel rooms, a ballroom with capacity for 400 guests, five dining outlets, a spa, gymnasium, swimming pool, mahjong rooms and a karaoke venue.
Razon’s Bloomberry Resorts Corp. plans a 15,700-square-meter (168,700-square-foot) property on a PHP1.9 billion (US$40.6 million) plot of land in Quezon City, reported the Philippine Star. The new project would be “similar to Solaire,” said Razon. “There may be some mixed-use because there is no height restriction. There will be a casino.” The $1.2 billion Solaire, the first resort in Entertainment City, currently has 1,400 slot machines, 295 gaming tables and 88 electronic tables—and that’s just in Phase I. Phase I also has 488 hotel rooms, suites and bayside villas and 15 specialty restaurants and F&B outlets, CND reported.
Even as he talks up his new project, which is subject to government and regulatory approval, Razon, too, has warned of oversupply in the gaming industry, reports the Asia Gaming Brief.
“It’s too many, too fast,” he said. “The market is not growing as fast as the industry wants it to. Supply is growing faster than the market.”
Kazuo Okada-led Universal Entertainment’s Manila Bay Resorts is slated to open late this year, and Genting expects to open Resorts World Bayshore in 2018.
