Aug 14, 2018 Newsdesk Latest News, Philippines, Top of the deck  
Macau’s Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd is not the only casino investor that will be prevented from having a gaming venue on the Philippine holiday island of Boracay (pictured), according to a senior official. Any existing operations there will also be barred from reopening when the island welcomes back tourists on October 26 after a six-month closure reportedly for an environmental clean-up.
The report – by the ABS-CBN television network – of Monday remarks by Bernadette Romulo-Puyat, Secretary of the Department of Tourism, didn’t mention existing venues by name. In March, Roy Cimatu, the country’s Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources, had mentioned another gaming project planned for Boracay and reportedly involving Philippine entrepreneur Andrew Tan.
Ms Romulo-Puyat said the Boracay casino ban was in accordance with a directive from President Rodrigo Duterte. The ban is said to include casinos that may be have been operating before the island was closed on April 26, ABS-CBN News reported.
“He has even instructed the Department of Tourism to close down the existing casinos in the island. So there will be no casinos at all in Boracay,” Ms Romulo-Puyat stated.
In additional remarks, Arturo Boncato, Tourism Undersecretary, was quoted as telling reporters: “I have to check the existence of casinos there. There are resorts. If there are resorts doing casino operations, we have to ascertain their permits, if they are really operating with permits.”
The website quoted the chairman of the Philippine House of Representatives committee on games and amusement, Gus Tambunting, as saying in a text message that only the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) – the country’s gaming regulator – had the direct authority to close any casinos, whether on Boracay or elsewhere.
“I do not believe the Department of Tourism can shut down existing casinos for the simple reason that Pagcor has primary jurisdiction over all casinos,” Mr Tambunting said.
Galaxy Entertainment vice-chairman Francis Lui Yiu Tung told a news conference in Hong Kong last Wednesday that his company believed it would be allowed to put a casino-resort on Boracay, despite Mr Duterte’s ban.
Last month, the Philippine News Agency quoted a government spokesman as saying that “no construction” of new casinos would be allowed on Boracay. As early as April, Mr Duterte’s spokesman, Harry Roque, was reported by Reuters news agency as saying that new casinos would not be permitted there.
May 30, 2023
May 24, 2023
Jun 02, 2023
Jun 02, 2023
Jun 02, 2023
Genting Singapore Ltd says Lam Yi Young has resigned from his role as deputy chief executive of Resorts World at Sentosa Pte Ltd. The latter firm is an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Genting...Jun 01, 2023
Alfastreet, a manufacturer of electronic gaming machines,...Jun 01, 2023
Casino equipment maker Sega Sammy Creation Inc is tweaking...Jun 01, 2023
The iGaming segment in Asia “has grown rapidly” since...May 31, 2023
Showing slot machine players – via animations on the...May 31, 2023
Macau stocks in likelihood “have been punished too much...May 31, 2023
There are foreign companies still interested in investing...May 31, 2023
Thailand could pass the necessary enabling legislation for...May 30, 2023
China will remain a key market for Asian gaming...May 30, 2023
Alejandro Tengco (pictured in a file photo), chairman and...May 30, 2023
There are “plenty of reasons” for the global gaming...May 30, 2023
Gaming equipment provider International Game Technology Plc...May 30, 2023
The Global Gaming Expo (G2E) Asia 2023 Special Edition:...May 29, 2023
Austria-based gaming equipment maker and operator Novomatic...May 25, 2023
Sports betting and online casino operating platform...May 24, 2023
The business performance in Asia of gaming content and...May 18, 2023
The organisers of Global Gaming Expo (G2E) Asia 2023...May 17, 2023
Gaming content and equipment supplier Light & Wonder...May 16, 2023
Casino equipment maker Sega Sammy Creation Inc is to...May 09, 2023
Casino slot machine and digital gaming content provider...May 05, 2023
The Global Gaming Expo (G2E) Asia event in Singapore is the...May 04, 2023
An adviser to a Thailand parliamentary committee mulling...(Click here for more)
US$8.1 billion
Macau’s casino gross gaming revenue in the five months to May 31