MANILA: Australian billionaire James Packer and Macau gambling tycoon Lawrence
Ho are teaming up with the Philippines' richest family to develop a US$1
billion casino in Manila, the Philippine partner said Friday.
The Belle casino will form
part of a huge gambling development which the government hopes will turn the
city into the world's number-two gaming destination ahead of Singapore and Las
Vegas, and behind only Macau.
SM Investments Corp, which is
controlled by the Henry Sy family, told the Philippine Stock Exchange its
affiliate Belle Corp signed an agreement with Melco Crown Entertainment to form
a consortium to develop the project.
"Subject to (regulatory)
requirements, Belle and MCE plan to create a US$1 billion premiere integrated
resort facility and enter into implementing and definitive agreements within
the next two months," the disclosure said.
Melco Crown, which operates a
Macau casino, confirmed the signing of a consortium agreement Thursday in a
disclosure to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
It said its unit MPEL Projects
expects to invest up to US$580 million over the course of the project, or more
than half its entire cost.
Melco Crown is a joint venture
between Melco International Development Ltd of Ho, son of Macau gaming mogul
Stanley Ho, and Packer's Crown Ltd of Australia.
Belle holds one of four
licences handed out by the Philippine government to build a casino worth at
least US$1 billion each at a site on Manila Bay called Entertainment City.
Gaming regulator Philippine
Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) has also granted licences to Malaysia's
Genting Group, Bloomberry Resorts Corp, and another casino backed by Japanese
gaming equipment supplier Kazuo Okada.
With the completion of the
US$4 billion Entertainment City project by 2016, Philippine gaming revenues are
expected to draw level with current number two Singapore's revenues of about
US$7 billion, Pagcor chief Cristino Naguiat told AFP in a recent interview.
Asia is poised to eclipse the
United States as the world's biggest gaming market in 2013, powered by the
region's growing economic prosperity and fondness for gambling, PricewaterhouseCoopers
said in a report in December.
Revenue in Asia is forecast to
more than double from US$34.3 billion in 2010 to US$79.3 billion in 2015, it
said.
-AFP/ac
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