The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) has approved the license for Lapu-Lapu City Casino, a $500- million integrated resort to be located on Mactan Island, Pagcor Chairman Andrea D. Domingo announced on Tuesday at the opening of the three-day Asean Gaming Summit in Pasay City.
Domingo said another application from a Hong Kong-based group for a license to operate an integrated resort in Mandaue is pending approval. She refused to disclose the Filipino firm licensed to operate the Lapu-Lapu City Casino.
Pagcor requires a minimum investment of $300 million for integrated resorts located outside Metro Manila.
“Cebu is the second-largest metropolis, and the local government units there are wiling to give the required no-objection resolution for casinos to operate, so it’s an attractive destination,” she added.
Meanwhile, Domingo said the public bidding of the service contract for its e-games network, previously held by Philweb, will be held by the end of March or early April.
“The TOR [terms of reference] for the service contract has already been approved by the board, and we’ll have the bidding by the end of the month or first week of April,” she said. Domingo earlier announced the service contract for its Internet cafés dedicated to casino gaming would undergo public bidding after it decided last August not to renew Philweb’s licensing and management contract for its e-games network. While Philweb Corp. operates the network and provides the software for the series of online gambling games, the cafés themselves are owned and ran by independent entrepreneurs. Pagcor’s decision was in line with President Duterte’s announcement halting online gaming and denouncing Philweb’s former chairman, Roberto V. Ongpin, as an “oligarch”.
Domingo said Pagcor is projecting revenues of P155 billion to P160 billion for the whole gaming industry for 2017, on the back of the Duterte administration’s push to invite more investors in the country.
She said the gaming industry can achieve this target since the country is strengthening its partnership with other Asean members, and the Duterte administration’s push for a level playing field in the industry.
For 2016 Pagcor’s gross gaming revenues grew 17 percent to P55 billion against 2015’s P43.39 billion. “Like I said, we are more friendly with other Asean countries, we are offering a level playing field in terms of business investments, we are a very safe country, and we have a lovely people and an open society that knows nothing about discrimination. I think this will all work together because we have a very strong President who does what he preaches and makes good his promises,” she added.
With Rea Cu