Philippines casino growth driven by population and economy

Eric Bianchi
June 21, 2011
6 Comments

Resorts World ManilaPredictions are being made that the Philippines will gain ground on Macau and Singapore in the Asia-Pacific land-based gaming market in the coming months. Fast becoming one of the power hubs for the gaming industry both online and offline, Andrew Tan’s Alliance Global Group Inc (AGI) cites population size and a stable economy as factors that will help the land-based industry to grow even further.

CEO of AGI, Kingson Sian, said recently, “In time, we can be the number three in the region, beating even Malaysia. Their population is only 20 million. The Philippines has close to 100 million”.

AGI already operates Resorts World Manila in conjunction with Genting Malaysia. 60% of the visitors to the location are Filipinos but Sian added that, “over time, foreigners from Korea, China and Malaysia will overtake locals.”

Visitors from overseas may be attracted to the Pacific group of islands by the new Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (Pagcor) Entertainment City that has been approved by the government. Situated in Manila Bay, AGI has been given one of the four licenses to operate a casino in the new complex. Belle Group, Bloomberry Resorts and Hotels Inc. and Japanese firm Aruze Group are the other three to gain licenses.

Echoing this very website, Sian added, “Asia is the best place for gaming today. The continent has a big population and income levels are growing”.

It will remain to be seen whether the Philippines’ land-based casino market can reach the stratospheric levels that Macau and Singapore. The potential is definitely there. When you look at population and the location of the country there’s really no reason why not.

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    this growth is because of the continued support of the government itself, land or online-based operators are welcomed and is duly regulated by a specific government agency. We're already looking at a SE Asia gaming hub.

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