The Philippines government continues to downsize its role as a casino operator with plans to close another Manila venue, the second in the last year.
With the future of the market shifting toward large-scale commercial resorts, Airport Casino Filipino, located near the capital’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport and one of the largest venues in the portfolio of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., will shut down in July amid mounting losses.
PAGCOR’s casino at Heritage Hotel Manila was closed last July.
“As much as possible we don’t want to close down any casino, but the decision depends on the viability of a casino,” Chief Executive Cristino Naguiat said.
Airport Casino Filipino generates an average of PHP180 million in gross revenues a month (US$4 million), half of which is remitted to the national treasury, leaving a balance that is not enough to cover expenses, Mr Naguiat said. The rent alone amounts to PHP23 million a month, he said—“plus salary for more or less 800 employees, we also pay for the food for our players and, of course, electricity and other fees”.
He said the outlook for gaming in the country is positive but that growth will be driven mostly by the private sector, which PAGCOR regulates and licenses. This includes Resorts World Manila—also located near the airport, a Genting partnership and the Philippines’ largest and most lucrative casino—and the four megaresorts under development at the PAGCOR-licensed Entertainment City complex on Manila Bay. The first of these, the US$750 million Solaire Resort & Casino, which is locally owned, opened last March. The second, City of Dreams Manila, part-owned by Macau’s Melco Crown Entertainment and priced at $1.2 billion, opens later this year.
The national market is estimated at around US$2 billion currently, but PAGCOR’s share of it has been declining. The agency fell PHP2.4 billion shy of its 2013 revenue goal of 42 billion (US$683 million) and acknowledges that it will be hard-pressed to make its target of PHP45.4 billion this year.
“We know that it will not be easy because competition is getting stiffer,” Mr Naguiat said recently. “But just like what I keep telling our employees, we always have to do our best so we can reap the fruits of our labor.”
He assured that the airport casino’s workers will not be jobless but will be transferred to other PAGCOR casinos at the Hyatt Hotel Manila and the Pavilion Hotel.
“Every month, we process about 50 applications for retirement or early retirement, so there are plenty of job opportunities for about 800 affected employees of Airport Casino Filipino.”
The closure will leave PAGCOR with 11 Casino Filipino-branded properties. Nationwide, the agency also operates around two dozen standalone machine gaming venues.
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