Philippine casinos such as Bloomberry “won’t probably get the top high rollers,” said Richard Laneda, an analyst at Manila-based CitisecOnline. “But these can bring in the lower end of the VIP market in Macau or Singapore.”
Philippine billionaire Enrique Razon, Bloomberry’s chairman, said on June 25 that the company will compete with integrated casino resorts in Macau, Singapore and other developments in Asia. Entertainment City Manila can in a shorter period surpass the gains made by Singapore, where the gaming industry generated $6.5 billion in revenue in 2011, Razon said at that time.
A lower charge or levy for casino operators in the Philippines than in Macau and Singapore will help Bloomberry and other Manila casinos, French said in the interview. The Philippines collects a regulatory fee of 15 percent to 17 percent on revenue from so-called high rollers compared with Macau’s 40 percent and Singapore’s 25 percent, he estimates. Full story
