Pursuing the Bay of Dreams, Part 2

Today Pagcor again talked in public about its dream to build something bigger than Macau on the shores of Manila Bay.

Chairman Ephraim Genuino of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) today revealed that some 800 hectares of property by the Manila Bay will be developed into a resort-style “Pagcor City” that could be completed in two years at a cost of about 10 billion U.S. dollars.

Genuino spoke at the opening today of “Asia’s Gem –Gaming and Entertaining Lesure Expo” in Manila. He was joined by industry giants in gaming and leisure such as Andrew Love of the Ritz Hotel in London, Michael Boettcher of Storm International, which operates casinos in Russia, and Henki Kivits of the Netherlands.

Genuino said that the recent extension by Congress of Pagcor’s franchise, due to expire in 2008, amended to allow for Pagcor to enter into investment and management agreements with private sectors, spurs development plans. The development of “Pagcor City” will employ about 250,000 persons.

Here’s the ABS-CBN article on it:

State-owned gaming operator Pagcor said on Wednesday it was in talks with Greece’s Loutraki Casino which wants to bid for the right to develop the first phase of the government’s 800-hectare gaming project in the capital.

The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) hopes to bid out the contract this year for the $10-billion development of the first phase covering 42 hectares, company chairman Efraim Genuino said on the sidelines of an international gaming conference in Manila.

“Loutraki is the biggest gaming operator in Europe. It’s from Greece,” said Genuino, who expects development of the first phase to be completed in two to three years.

We’re all for such grand plans and sweeping visions. With Pagcor’s three decades of operational experience in running casinos, the Philippines has always been a strong contender to become a major Asian gambling destination. But the painful truth is that only a fraction of the 800 hectares is actually reclaimed; the rest is still under water. Even if started tomorrow, a reclamation project of the scale that Pagcor envisions, as any engineer will tell you, takes years to settle down. Ah, if we were only an oil-rich kingdom like Dubai that can afford to throw money to realize a “build it and they will come” strategy.

Critical View of Macau

There was bound to be someone to express a darker view of what’s going on in our neighbor to the northeast, Macau.   

“Build and they will come” is clearly the motto of Sands’ boss, Sheldon Adelson, and the investors who have followed him, banking on the growing wealth of China and the Chinese passions for gambling and designer labels.

But will they? Last year 21 million visitors came to Macao, mostly by bus from across the border. Some fly in from mainland cities, or come by ferry or helicopter from Hong Kong. But at present most just come for the day. Can the rich of China and East Asia be persuaded that they need a local Las Vegas with huge luxury resorts as well as gambling?

It is a political gamble to bet so heavily on the future of gambling, even in China. Macao may be a safety valve for pleasures illicit on the mainland. But the bigger gambling gets here, the more it becomes a symbol of the extent of corruption and ill-gotten wealth on the mainland.

The massive money laundering that goes on in Macao may not matter while China has such excesses of foreign currency. But Beijing could pull the plug any time on big money bets or scare Chinese to less-conspicuous locations. Then, no amount of promotion elsewhere in Asia will fill all those malls and rooms with high rollers.

UK Super Casinos

How many “super casinos” will the entire United Kingdom have? Only one — in Manchester.

As defined by regulators there, a super casino is one with at least 5,000 square meters of area for customers to gamble and up to 1,250 slot machines.  How many does Las Vegas have? 30.  How many are in Asia? Good question…..

Manchester was a 16-1 outsider at the bookmakers to be selected as a test-bed for the UK’s first regional “resort” casino.

There has been speculation that more super-casino licences might be awarded but Ms Jowell told MPs that there would definitely be no more granted during this Parliament.

Any further casinos would have to be approved by parliament and would not be considered until there had been a “proper evaluation over time” of the social and economic effects of the 17 new casinos.