\nMANILA, Oct 22 (Reuters) – U.S. gaming firm Caesars Entertainment Corp has to put in at least $1.5 billion as minimum investment if it proceeds to invest in the Philippines, an up-and-coming gaming destination that has lured some of the world’s biggest casino operators.<\/p>\n
\tLast month, Philippine President Benigno Aquino met with top Caesars officials, with the casino operator following up the San Francisco meeting with a written expression of interest to invest in the country, Cristino Naguiat, chairman of the state gaming firm Pagcor, told reporters on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\tThe government now requires new casino investors to put in a minimum of $1.5 billion, half a billion dollars more than the initial investment paid by the four casino licensees in the 100-hectare (247 acres) gaming and leisure complex known as Entertainment City in the capital Manila.<\/p>\n
\t"If we bring in something new, it has to add value to the development of Entertainment City," Naguiat said. "They will be facing new terms of reference – the new investors."<\/p>\n
\tNaguiat added that other American gaming companies, which he did not name, were also interested to invest in the country.<\/p>\n
\tNew casino firms would also have to look for parcels of land on their own as the government does not have any more available land to offer, he said.<\/p>\n
\tBloomberry Resorts Corp opened the first phase of its $1.2 billion casino-resort last year at Entertainment City. That will be followed by the over $1-billion joint venture of local firm Belle Corp and Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd called City of Dreams Manila in December this year.<\/p>\n
\tAlliance Global Group Inc and Genting Hong Kong Ltd , partners in casino-hotel firm Travellers International Hotel Group Inc, expect to complete their casino-resort project by 2017.<\/p>\n
\tThe fourth investor in Entertainment City, the local affiliate of Japan’s Universal Entertainment Corp, said last month that it expects to open its $2 billion casino resort project in 2016, a year later than planned.<\/p>\n
\tPagcor’s Naguiat reiterated that the government will penalise Universal and forfeit the company’s 100 million pesos ($2.23 million) performance bond if it does not finish construction of the project in March next year as indicated in its project implementation plan.<\/p>\n
\tAquino said his cabinet was still debating allowing a fifth private casino operator.<\/p>\n
\t"There are some sectors that are saying they will not add to the gaming revenues of government. There are those who are saying Caesars is a brand name that tells the world that essentially we have arrived," Aquino told an annual forum of foreign journalists.<\/p>\n
\t"I am still awaiting the consensus coming from the cabinet," he said.<\/p>\n
\tCaesars said the Philippines represents a compelling market opportunity for the group.<\/p>\n
\t"It’s still early in the discussions, but it would be a great complement to our upcoming integrated resort in Korea, the start of a network of Caesars-branded IRs in Asia," Steven Tight, president of international development at Caesars, told Reuters. (1 US dollar = 44.745 Philippine peso) (Reporting by Rosemarie Francisco; Additional reporting by Farah Master in HONG KONG; Editing by Ryan Woo)<\/p>\n
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