Melco Crown (Philippines) Resorts Corp plans to hire nearly 430 employees throughout 2015 for casino-resort City of Dreams Manila, a property it operates in the Philippines capital.
“The group anticipates to have around 5,442 employees, or an increase representing 8.56 percent, by the end of 2015,” Manila-listed Melco Crown Philippines wrote in its 2014 annual report, published on Monday.
At the end of last year, the casino operator had a total of 5,013 workers.
Melco Crown Philippines spent PHP2.8 billion (US$62.5 million) in employee benefits last year, including salaries, allowances, bonus and share-based compensation programmes, the firm said.
Melco Crown Philippines is a subsidiary of Hong Kong-listed Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd. City of Dreams Manila, described in media reports as a US$1.3-billion project, is a partnership with Philippine-based Premium Leisure and Amusement Inc, a unit of Premium Leisure Corp, controlled by the family of Philippine billionaire Henry Sy.
The property’s provisional licence requires that at least 95 percent of City of Dreams Manila’s total employees be hired locally, according to the annual report of Melco Crown Philippines.
The firm has already applied, via a subsidiary, to the country’s casino regulator – the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp, known as Pagcor – to obtain a regular licence for City of Dreams Manila. The application was filed in January.
City of Dreams Manila had a soft opening on December 14, followed by an official inauguration on February 2. The property has 950 hotel rooms under the Crown Towers, Nobu and Hyatt brands. It also includes several entertainment areas.
As of end-2014, City of Dreams Manila had 188 gaming tables, 1,508 slot machines and 158 electronic table games in operation, Melco Crown Philippines stated in the annual report. The property has capacity for up to 380 gaming tables, 1,700 slot machines and 1,700 electronic table games.
City of Dreams Manila is the second of four integrated resorts planned for Entertainment City, an area earmarked by Philippine authorities to become a casino district, and meant to emulate the success of Macau’s Cotai district.
Philippine gaming revenues could reach US$4.8 billion by 2017 when three of Entertainment City’s four casinos are running, according to Macquarie Group Ltd estimates, cited by Bloomberg.
Each Entertainment City resort has a minimum price tag of US$1 billion. The first property there, Solaire Resort and Casino, opened in 2013 and is owned and operated by Bloomberry Resorts Corp.
