Belle Corporation looking to expand Philippines casino footprint
Updated:2024-06-20 15:15 Views:192Philippines real estate and gaming firm Belle Corporation has reportedly announced that it is hoping to expand its City Of Dreams Manila casino resort by purchasing land adjacent to the current 15-acre development.
A subsidiary of SM Investments Corporation and responsible for the City Of Dreams Manila property via its Premium Leisure Corporation joint venture with Hong Kong-listed Melco Resorts And Entertainment Limited, Belle Corporation made the revelation to online news portal Rappler.com during a meeting of its shareholders on Monday.
“We are looking for a neighboring site or land contiguous with City Of Dreams Manila,” Willy Ocier, Vice-Chairman for Manila-based Belle Corporation, told Rappler.com. “We are open also [to a] joint venture partnership.”
Ocier reportedly declared that his firm was additionally considering the possibility of opening a casino away from Manila and would apply for a license from the Philippine Amusement And Gaming Corporation regulator once a suitable site had been identified.
“We are planning with Melco [Resorts And Entertainment Limited],” Ocier told the news portal. “We [intend to apply] for a second site in line with the fact that our other licensee partners have second sites. We [will be] applying based on the policy of a level playing field. [The Philippine Amusement And Gaming Corporation] said that they will consider but they did not commit. [The Philippine Amusement And Gaming Corporation] is open to other areas outside metropolitan Manila especially when it is related to tourism.”
Ocier told Rappler.com that City Of Dreams Manila is currently operating at full capacity thanks to the strong management of Melco Resorts And Entertainment Limited and its policy of attracting gamblers from China and other nearby nations.
“City Of Dreams Manila is growing significantly and there is a good chance it will become the number-one in gross gaming revenues this year among integrated resorts,” Manuel Gana, President for Belle Corporation, told Rappler.com.
Last year saw the Philippine casino industry report aggregated gross gaming revenues of roughly $3 billion while City Of Dream Manila recorded an 80% increase year-on-year as total takings at the tables came in at just over $502.7 million. By comparison, Bloomberry Resorts Corporation, which runs the nearby Solaire Resort And Casino, detailed annual gross gaming revenues of $774.1 million while the rival Travellers Hotel Group Incorporated via its Resorts World Manila posted 2016 table takings of $474.5 million.
Rappler.com moreover reported that Belle Corporation saw its consolidated net income for 2016 hit approximately $62.3 million, which was a rise of 74% year-on-year, fueled primarily by revenue growth at City Of Dreams Manila.
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