Inside Asian Gaming

IAG SEP 2022年9月 亞博匯 42 COVER STORY the American military picked Clark for their air base. So that’s why the Philippine government started coming up with this idea of New Clark City. Again, as long as this infrastructure is built, I think people will come. I have received a lot of calls from different investors here and there. Why? Because they see the infrastructure is there now and they see the potential. BB: There are other casinos in Clark that are also upgrading their facilities, such as Royce and in recent years D’Heights. Do you believe there will be a beneficial cluster effect in Clark? DH: I think so. Definitely in the end that’s what I hope because we are competing with different jurisdictions like Macau and Singapore so we need to provide something different. And the facilities have to be at international level, not local level. You know, this is still lacking right now but in the coming years, if some really capable operators step in and they build a really nice IR here, I think that will benefit everybody. BB: Your recovery at the moment is largely being driven by locals, so the international arrivals have yet to return in full force. How much growth do you forecast is still to come in the next six to 12 months? DH: It’s a good point. Right now, it’s not dramatic. I mean, from March to April, people started to feel like this big wave [of COVID] was gone and the government began to ease restrictions. That was the time when we felt like a lot of people started moving around: from April. That’s the time our GGR really jumped.