After several delays, the first phase of Kazuo Okada’s $2.4-billion integrated resort, Okada Manila, is finally scheduled to open at the end of December.
In a filing with the Tokyo Stock Exchange, Japan-based Universal Entertainment Corp. announced that “the initial opening of the property, including the hotel (except staterooms for VIPs), food and beverage outlets, casino and other major attractions, will take place at the end of December.” The company did not indicate a specific date for the opening.
Steve Wolstenholme, president of local subsidiary Tiger Resort, Leisure and Entertainment, said in September that they have “completed around 85 percent” of the casino resort’s first phase, which covers 22 hectares of the overall 44-hectare plot of land at the Entertainment City.
Of this land, the casino operator has allotted 41,000 square meters to build a casino with 500 table games and 3,000 electronic games, as well as two hotels with a total of 993 rooms, a beach club, a high-end retail area, a 3,000-square-meter spa, and several food and beverage outlets.
Tiger Resort has been ramping up the process to hire about 8,000 people, which will include corporate professionals, resort managers and personnel, for the first phase of its operation. Okada Manila already has 19,000 construction workers and 2,400 regular employees hired during the construction phase of the project.
Wolstenholme said the goal is to hire “more local talents” who will fill up positions in casino gaming, casino, marketing, club operations, security and surveillance, facilities management, cage operations, hotel operations and food and beverages.
“The $2.4-billion Okada Manila project… is expected to contribute heavily both in generating local jobs and also in improving the country’s tourism revenues,” the company said, according to a Manila Bulletin report.
Aside from fulfilling its licensing agreement with state-run Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR), Tiger Resort is also making sure that the integrated resort’s amenities are ready for the Miss Universe beauty pageant, which it will co-sponsor as part of the plan to promote Okada Manila globally.
Okada Manila will be the third and largest integrated resort to open in Manila’s Entertainment City, following Bloomberry Resorts’ Solaire Resort & Casino and Melco Crown Entertainment’s City of Dreams Manila. The fourth and final property, Travellers International’s West Side City Resorts World, is expected to open sometime in 2020.
