A new billion-dollar casino resort is set to open in the Philippines. Upon opening, the resort and casino will become one of the largest gambling centers in the world. The idea is for the Philippines to compete with Singapore, Las Vegas, and Macau, essentially becoming one of the gambling centers of the world. A number of recent projections and stated that the average gambling revenue that the resort will bring in will rise from $1.9 billion in the area to $6 billion. Currently, Singapore generates about $6 billion in gambling revenue over the course of five years. This will take the timeframe down to one year, and make Singapore gambling state of Asian.
The new resort, called Solaire will be open on Saturday, and will be one of the largest hotel casino ceremonies to commemorate the opening, in recent memory. The resort will feature more than 500 total hotel rooms, 1200 slot machines and nearly 300 gambling tables. There will also be a number of different private rooms available, and special considerations for high rollers. The complex will contain a total of eight different restaurants of varying food types, , a nightclub, and even a Broadway theater for plays and other shows.
This will be the first resort of a $4 billion investment that is being planned in the area. As the first open, the hopes are that the new resort will be able to draw a large enough following to the area, to allow the company to continue with their future plans investments. The entire establishment, including future plan casinos, are being placed on the 247 acre property. The property had previously been a part of Manila Bay, but had been reclaimed. Economists in the area see a lot of room for economic boost as of tourism brought to the area through the new resorts and gambling destinations. As a tourist destination, the area has come under fire in recent years because of the number of visible kidnappings and insurgents in violence and organized crime. Macau has had a lot of problems with organized crime as well, but has done a lot to combat the issues over the course of the last decade.
Executives for the company are optimistic about the potential earnings of the new resort, stating that the 15% tax that is placed on casino operations in the Philippines is much less than the 40% tax placed on casino operations in Macau, which should allow the area to grow much more rapidly than Macau has. The addition of this new casino is one that is sure to bring in tourism dollars to the area, allowing it to become a hub for employment and economic push. The $1 billion investment is just the beginning of an overall $4 billion investment to build “The Entertainment City,” as it has been aptly called, and try to transform Singapore and one of the gambling hub’s of the world. It a will be interesting to see how much revenue the casino was able to bring in after its opening, and whether or not it will meet expectations, or fall short of those numbers.