Int Ent unit to ask Pagcor for Manila casino licence

Jun 19, 2020 Newsdesk Latest News, Philippines, Top of the deck  

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Hong Kong-listed International Entertainment Corp says that a Philippine subsidiary, Marina Square Properties Inc, has received a letter from the Manila city authorities indicating no objection to a plan to develop a Manila casino resort.

The Thursday filing said the Philippine unit was preparing an application to the country’s casino regulator, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (Pagcor), for a provisional licence to “expand and upgrade,” some “current hotel premises, facilities and services by the establishment and operation of a casino and the development of the integrated resort”. The latter term is commonly used to describe a large-scale tourism complex containing a casino.

Marina Square Properties runs the New Coast Hotel Manila (pictured) in that city, a property formerly known as New World Manila Bay Hotel.

International Entertainment said it planned to make further announcements on the matter “in order to keep the shareholders informed” in relation to the application for a provisional licence from Pagcor. It had mentioned the plan in another filing a week earlier.

International Entertainment already has a leasing agreement with the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (Pagcor) for the latter to operate a casino inside the New Coast Hotel Manila. Pagcor is the regulator of the Philippine casino industry and also the operator of some publicly owned casino facilities.

International Entertainment terminated in December a hotel management agreement and sales and marketing agreement covering the Manila property.

Such operations were run by units of Chow Tai Fook (Holding) Ltd. The latter business controlled International Entertainment until 2017. That year, the firm changed hands to Brighten Path Ltd, chaired by Stanley Choi Chiu Fai.

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