The head of Manila’s gaming agency said that as soon as next year, the Philippines can overtake Singapore. The country aims to become Asia’s second-largest gambling destination after Macau. The new integrated resorts are boosting visitors and offsetting a decline in Chinese tourist arrivals.
Billionaire Enrique Razon’s Bloombery Resorts Corporation’s new integrated resort will open in Manila later this 2024. They are planning up to eight more casino projects. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of state regulator Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., or Pagcor, Alejandro Tengco, stated this in an interview at his office last Tuesday. He also plans to sell state-run casinos by no later than early 2026.
Tengco stated that if Singapore doesn’t expand, they will plateau. Next year, don’t be surprised if they surpass them. From last year’s record of 285 billion pesos, the Philippines expects gross gaming revenue to reach a new high of 336 billion pesos or 6.1 billion dollars.
Singapore’s Gambling regulatory Authority said that it has no comment when Bloomberg News asked about Tengco’s remarks and referred Genting Singapore Ltd and Las Vegas Sands Corp’s financial statements for the revenues of the two integrated resorts in the city-state.
Tengco estimated Singapore’s annual gross gaming revenue to be around 6 billion dollars.
During the Covid pandemic, Manila is counting on its integrated resorts and casinos to help boost tourist arrivals. The country is targeting 7.7 million foreign tourists after drawing in 5.45 million in 2023 this year. It is still below the pre-pandemic level in 2019 of 8.26 million.
He said that as you open new markets, new customers will come. The nation’s future casinos will be in the capital Manila and at the former US airbase Clark, just like in tourist magnets like Cebu and Boracay. This can cost up to 1.2 billion dollars.
