The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (Pagcor), the country’s gaming regulator, confirmed to GGRAsia that the agency has received an application for a new casino resort in Clark, in Pampanga province.
“The office of the chairman received an integrated resort licence application but it hasn’t been endorsed to the Gaming Licensing and Development Department yet for processing,” a Pagcor spokesperson said on Thursday in a written reply to GGRAsia.
The regulator did not confirm the identity of the company applying for the licence.
A report by Reuters on Wednesday suggested that Premium Leisure Corp, an investor in the City of Dreams Manila casino resort in the Philippine capital, was planning to invest at least US$300 million in a separate casino resort in Clark.
A source quoted by the media outlet said that aside from the casino, the project would include also “a convention centre and a hotel”.
Premium Leisure, which delisted from the main board of the Philippine bourse on July 9, is now a privately-held unit of Philippine-listed Belle Corp. The latter is a subsidiary of SM Investments Corp, the country’s most valuable company.
In a Thursday filing to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Belle confirmed that the “gaming-focused investment companies” of Premium Leisure had “applied for a gaming licence from government regulators”.
“However, as information on potential investments, much less plans, of any specific project, specifically within Clark City in Central Luzon, are still too preliminary at this point, especially considering that the application for licence has yet to be acted on, we are still in no position to make any confirmation thereon,” stated Belle.
The company said it would “make the appropriate disclosures once investment decisions have been made firm”.
