STATE-CONTROLLED Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) will be issuing licenses to two US-based casino operators that will locate in Aseana Business Park’s Pagcor City in Parañaque.

In an interview, chairman and chief executive Efraim Genuino said they are about to hand out the licenses. He did not identify the companies.

“This just indicates that we are moving towards realizing the Pagcor City,” he said.

Last year, Pagcor started with the development of the first phase of Pagcor City, which consists of a resort hotel, a theme park and gaming centers.

“Our goal is to complete Phase I in two years and immediately proceed with the second phase, which would involve residential villages and casinos,” Genuino told reporters. Phase III of the estimated $20-billion project would feature a hospital district, restaurants and commercial establishments.

In a previous interview, he said it would take at least seven years to develop Pagcor City, which will occupy around 60 hectares of Aseana Park.

Pagcor, which ended 2006 with a gross income of P25.5 billion, operates 14 Casino Filipino branches, eight highly-exclusive Casino Filipino VIP clubs and three slot-machine arcades in key cities.

Genuino is convinced of the country’s potential of becoming the Las Vegas of Asia, beating the neighboring Macau, because “we have always been at the radar screen of big-time investors from all over the world.”

“We have investors from all over Europe and Asia. With the Pagcor City, our goal is to generate as much as 250,000 jobs and also promote the tourism industry of the country,” he added.

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STATE-CONTROLLED Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) will be issuing licenses to two US-based casino operators that will locate in Aseana Business Park’s Pagcor City in Parañaque.

STOCKS Wednesday rose, ending a seven-day slide that erased $15 billion of market value, after the US Federal Reserve unexpectedly cut a key-interest rate to stop the world’s biggest economy from slipping into recession.