Bay of Dreams

Now that Pagcor has had its legal life extended, it’s beginning to return its attention to Pagcor City — the plan to establish an entertainment and gambling center in the country to rival Las Vegas. No doubt, the Philippines is late excecuting on this vision. Macau has a huge headstart, and with the former Portuguese colony attracting 22 million Chinese eager to see whether Lady Luck will smile on them — and the huge cash flows they confer to the city’s casinos — it will be hard to play catch up. That won’t stop Pagcor’s Chairman Efraim Genuino from pursuing his dream, as a columnist from the Business Mirror writes.

Chairman Genuino explained that for more than four years now, many foreign investors have been raring to come in and invest in the realization of Pagcor E-City.

“The investors have all the while been waiting in the wings for the congressional approval of our new franchise,” Genuino said. The only thing that deterred them from putting in their money was the fact that the old franchise was good only up to July 11, 2008.

He also intimated that all the while, in anticipation of the new franchise, Pagcor had quietly blocked off 700 hectares of contiguous reclaimed land (larger than Singapore?) in the Manila Bay area in partnership with the Public Estates Authority (PEA). It is now just a matter of evaluating which foreign investors to accommodate in the proposed city.

The proposed city will have arcades, malls, hotels, a racetrack, residential villages, recreation parks, theaters, wellness spas, convention sites and, of course, gaming centers—in short, the works—comparable to the facilities of Las Vegas and the modernized Macau complex. Definitely, he says, the objective is to build an entertainment complex more dazzling than the one in Thailand.

More on Pagcor Charter

Here’s one comment from columnist Emil Jurado of Manila Standard Today on what the new Pagcor charter means. The newly passed law extending Pagcor’s franchise for another 25 years explicitly allows the state gambling monopoly to do joint ventures or invest in gambling-related entities.

The two Senate-passed bills I have been supporting have finally passed the congressional juggernaut after so much quibbling and bickering. These are the anti-terrorism bill and the extension of the Pagcor franchise to another 25 years when it expires on July 8, 2008. . . . As for the extension of the Pagcor franchise, it opens the door for joint ventures in gaming and entertainment. Surely this is a big driver for tourism.

If you have an Asian perspective, then you know the stakes are high, to borrow a cliche. Pagcor officials have previously gone on the record that they want to fast track the construction of a Las Vegas-style entertainment city on reclaimed land in Manila Bay. But the necessity of getting its charter renewed had stymied those efforts, until now.

Gaming in Asia is not only booming in Macau. Last month, Singapore gave the nod to two integrated resorts with casinos, to be built on Sentosa Island and a newly reclaimed area known as Marina Bayfront. Not to be outdone, the Philippines Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) plans a $15-billion project on reclaimed land on Manila Bay to rival Macau. Rafael Francisco, president of PAGCOR, said last year that he would like to speed up the project to catch up with Singapore and Thailand, which is planning an integrated resort at Khao Lak, near Phuket.

Austrade’s Senior Trade Commissioner in Manila, Alan Morrell, says the idea is to make Manila a tourist attraction along the lines of Las Vegas, with a variety of entertainment, such as shows and rides. Apparently, potential investors have begun discussions with PACGOR. But as Austrade sees it, a major hindrance is the expiration of PAGCOR’s charter in 2008. Investors would like to be assured that the government will extend PAGCOR’s charter beyond 2008.

Negotiations are on hold until the Congress of the Philippines passes a bill extending PAGCOR’s charter, probably for another couple of years. PAGCOR hopes the government will pass its bill this year, and is mindful that neighboring countries like Singapore have already announced their plans for casinos. Sources say that if the bill is not acted on quickly by Congress, the government’s master plan for developing gaming may not proceed as envisaged – especially if potential investors start looking at neighboring countries as an option.

Good News for Gullible Patrons & Pitiful Gamblers

So Congress renews the franchise of Pagcor, giving the government’s third-largest revenue generator after the BIR and BoC a 25-year extension of its lease on life.

Here’s the disappointing thing about Philippine media’s coverage of this event. Look at the stories written about this particular bill, and it’s all one-sided. You’ll have a hard time finding anyone giving some perspective on what’s at stake for the gaming industry. All you see are accusations hurled; there’s very little reporting and putting it all in context.

This is the Inquirer take on how the House passed the Pagcor bill:

In a more controversial move, the House nakedly asserted the power of the majority, swept away all opposition objections and also ratified a measure extending for 25 years the franchise of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor).

Opponents of the measure had claimed its passage might be used by the administration to avail itself of Pagcor funds for the May elections.

The two bills, ratified by voice vote, had been previously approved by the congressional bicameral conference committee. Now, they need only the signature of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to become laws.

Manila Bulletin had its usual dry, just-the-facts writing:

The Lower House likewise adopted the Senate version of House Bill 3409 which extended to another 25 years the franchise of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) that is set to expire next year.

The Pagcor bill was authored in the Lower House by Rep. Zubiri a member of the administration-backed Team Unity senatorial ticket.

Here’s GMA News quoting Archbishop Cruz on the bill’s passage:

At present, Cruz said Pagcor has no less than 16 casinos and another 10 slot machine arcades, “all luring gamblers and nurturing gambling addicts, no matter the socio-moral costs it is not even enough that it rakes in some five billion every quarter from its gullible patrons.”

“The eventual winner is the national leadership. The ultimate losers are the pitiful gamblers, the social imperative of sweat and toil, the elementary mandate of sound value system,” he said.

He added: “This is the perfect picture of an exploiter and exploited. What the administration cannot get by direct and indirect taxes, it grabs by enticing citizens to gamble.”

The GMA news piece continues:

“This (franchise bill) should be left to the next Congress which should unmask Pagcor’s strategic partners in the development of the gambling theme park which will be built in ‘Pacgor City’ in the Manila Bay reclaimed area,” [Rep. Rex Suplico] said in a text message to GMANews.TV.

Suplico along with Cibac party-list Rep. Joel Villanueva, opposed the extension Pagcor’s franchise and the construction of the theme park.

Suplico said the park will transform Manila into a “gambling Mecca” of Southeast Asia.”

Hmmm. Maybe Suplico doesn’t want the bright neon lights and ping-ping-ping of slot machines on Manila Bay, but most other governments in the region WANT to become the epicenter of gambling. The thinking is that hordes of tourists means jobs, jobs, jobs in the real estate, tourism, and technology industries. Just ask Singapore.

Card Dealers Have Their Own Game

Every industry has its contests to encourage people to do their best and to recognize the skills developed to make the customer experience more complete. For the Asian gambling industry, the Dealing Champion, now in its second year, could become a showcase of what the region’s casino personnel can offer:

The skirmishes just got more exciting.The Asia’s Gem Dealing Exhibition Manila 2007 expects to see card dealing experts from in and outside Asia to compete for the highly coveted Dealing Championship Crown and the attractive cash prizes. Participants look forward to another memorable experience during this annual congregation of masters in the gaming and entertainment industry.

Gentleman’s Sport

Honesty thrives in this archipelago. Where? In an arena where millions changes hands, with no need for the modern conveniences of computers or contracts to track who bet what or who owes whom. The arenas are the cockpits found in every town for sabong, the Philippines’ pasttime.

There are no tickets, written agreements, chips, tokens or cards to record your bet. It’s all in one’s integrity, honesty and good memory.

“Sabong is considered a gentleman’s sport,” comments Regorosa. There is very little room for cheating, and those caught could get badly beaten up or jailed. Once you make a wager or place a bet, there is no turning back because sabungeros (cockfight aficionados) will take your word for it and expect you to do the same. Don’t, and you draw the ire of a stadiumful of sabungeros, risk being mobbed, and lose your good community standing.

When is $1 Million Not $1 Million?

“Read the fine print” is the perennial advice to us consumers. Check this story about a $1 million lottery winner not being able to pay for his medical bills. Not only do the rules say that the top prize should be disbursed over 20 years, there’s also the taxman taking his portion of the winnings.

Million-dollar lottery winner Wayne Schenk doesn’t feel very lucky, in spite of hitting the jackpot.

That’s because the dying ex-Marine was diagnosed with incurable lung cancer five weeks before snatching the $1 million prize on a $5 scratch-off ticket — but the New York Lottery says no dice on paying him in full.

With doctors giving him little more than a year to live, the former Marine has no need for a new house, or a fancy car. He’s hoping to buy a little time — by checking into a Philadelphia hospital that specializes in treating advanced-stage cancers.

The $1 million New York Lottery prize pays out in $50,000 annual installments over 20 years, and the Eastern Regional Medical Center told him it would need $125,000 up front and $250,000 in reserves to be tapped as his treatment proceeds.

Chartering a New Pagcor Charter

It’s surprising that for an entity which is the third largest source of revenue for the government, and directly employs 12,000 people, there isn’t much press coverage on the status of legislation to extend the Pagcor franchise. It has supposedly passed both houses of Congress, and needs one more push for final approval, according to one report.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo issued Proclamation Order No. 1235, which declared February 19 to 20 as the “two-day special session to pursue final approval of the anti-terror bill and other urgent measures already in advanced stages of legislation.”Among the bills to be taken up are the anti-terrorism bill, the credit information bureau, the compensation for human rights violation victims, and the amendment Presidential Decree (PD) 1869, which created the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) Charter, to effect the extension of its franchise.

The background on the expiration of Pagcor’s charter, also known as PD1869, is here.

Gung ho Ho

The Philippines’ neighbor, Macau (aka The Monte Carlo of the Orient or the Asian Las Vegas), just got a new attraction. Filipinos are familiar with the name Stanley Ho, and his company Sociedade de Jogos de Macau (SJM) just opened up the Grand Lisboa.

The HK$5 billion Grand Lisboa, a 52-story complex with a 430-room hotel as well as a five-floor casino with 240 tables and 484 slot machines, opened Sunday, just in time for the thousands of traditional Chinese gamblers who are expected during the Lunar New Year break this weekend.

There was a time when Ho was looking at doing business in the Philippines. Oh those times seem so long ago! The new casino in Ho’s bailiwick is a response to the changing environment. The 85-year old Ho, who once had a monopoly on gambling in the former Portuguese colony, is facing stiff competition. The swashbuckling cowboys from Las Vegas have been building furiously, even by TheStrip standards, in Ho’s backyard.

Later this year, the American billionaire Sheldon Adelson plans to open his 3,000-suite Venetian Macao, billed as the largest hotel-casino in the world. The complex and many others are being built on reclaimed land between two islands called the Cotai Strip.

But if you think Stanley still has the touch of Midas, you can own a piece of his empire later in the year. He plans to sell shares and list his company on the Hong Kong stock exchange. Will customers who have “contributed” to the success of SJM, i.e. the highrollers, be given an allocation of IPO shares?

Meanwhile, Ho said he is confident the HK$15 billion listing in Hong Kong of SJM will go ahead this year.

“The listing of SJM will surely happen this year, and it will happen before September,” Ho said.

Enjoying Your Earnings

If you win the lotto or make a killing at the baccarat tables, how would you spend your winnings? If you’re the type who likes to tickle her tonque with exquisite tastes and exotic flavors, here’s one way to do it.

Foodies are flying in to Bangkok from far-flung corners of the world this weekend to experience a scintillating 11-course gala dinner — with a one-million-baht price tag.

Only the most well-heeled food and wine connoisseurs are expected to take a seat at the exclusive table in the Thai capital, where the feast will be prepared by six Michelin three-star chefs from Europe.

“We limit at 40 seats, and right now it’s fully booked,” said Kanokrat Petchpornprapas, a spokeswoman for Mezzaluna, the restaurant holding the event at the top of one of Bangkok’s tallest and most luxurious hotels, overlooking the Chao Phraya River.

CEZA’s Legal Basis

If you’ve ever wondered how the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority, via First Cagayan Leisure and Resort Corporation , can hand out licenses to online casinos and what the legal foundation is for the Authority’s authority, here’s one answer in Manila Bulletin:

But how is CEZA able to offer online gambling without
infringing the license of Pagcor and encountering the legal
roadblocks that have doomed the earlier effort of Sage?

CEZA officials pointed as legal basis a provision of
Republic Act 7922, the law that created the special economic
zone and which was passed in 1995 with Sen. Juan Ponce
Enrile as the main author.

Section 6 (f) of the said law gave the CEZA the right “to
operate on its own, either directly or through a subsidiary
entity, or license to others, tourism-related activities,
including games, amusements, recreational and sports
facilities such as horse racing, dog racing, gambling
casinos, golf courses, and others, under priorities and
standards set by the CEZA.”