Parañaque renews appeal on share of casino income

MANILA, Philippines - The Parañaque City government reiterated its appeal to the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) to restore its P5 million monthly income share as host of two licensed casinos at the Entertainment City.

Pagcor discontinued the income share in July last year, according to Paranaque Mayor Edwin Olivarez.

Olivarez said he had written to Pagcor chairman and CEO Cristino Naguiat Jr. appealing to restore the income share.

“Your discontinuance of our host city income share has adversely affected our financial position and we are now constrained to look for other sources of funds to finance priority projects which are previously funded through Pagcor share,” he said.

The casino operations in Heritage Hotel in Pasay and Paranaque have been transferred to the Entertainment City.

Pagcor issued licenses for four proponents to operate integrated casino-entertainment resorts in the area.

The 100-hectare Entertainment City is a project of Pagcor. Solaire Resort and Casino of Bloomberry Resorts Corp. was the first to open in Entertainment City – seen as the country’s answer to Macau and Las Vegas – followed by City of Dreams Manila of Macau-based casino giant Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd.

Tiger Resort was granted a license in August 2008 to establish and operate a casino at the  Entertainment City with a total investment of $2 billion.

Completing the four components of Entertainment City is another integrated resort casino project by Alliance Global Group Inc. of Andrew Tan and Genting Hong Kong Ltd. 

Olivarez said the restoration of the Pagcor share is appropriate and justifiable since they operate huge casinos in their territorial jurisdiction. He added financial subsidies for host cities have been established practice on the part of the Pagcor.

Olivarez said the city would buy new police patrol cars and firefighting equipment to be detailed in the area to adequately secure and protect Pagcor’s casino players, guests and the general public including the properties of their investors.

Naguiat, for his part, has informed city officials their request to restore the monthly host city share has been recommended to the board for approval.