An additional P100 million revenues will be added to Parañaque City’s coffers next year when Okada Manila, the country’s largest integrated casino and resort, officially opens in two months, a ranking city official said Tuesday.
City administrator Ding Soriano expressed optimism about the additional revenue collection, after the world-class integrated hotel secured a provisional casino license from regulator Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.
Soriano said the estimated additional revenues would come from real property tax, business tax, clearances like health and police and other miscellaneous payments when Okada Manila formally operates in February.
“The city expects revenues to reach billions over the five year period when all integrated resorts have been completed in the Entertainment City along the stretch of Manila Bay,” said the administrator.
The $2.4-billion Okada Manila is being developed by Tiger Resort, Leisure and Entertainment Inc., the Philippine subsidiary of Universal Entertainment owned by Japanese gaming and pachinko mogul Kazuo Okada.
The 44-hectare world-class integrated resort is the third integrated casino and resort to open within the government-sponsored Entertainment City. The first to open was Solaire Resorts in March 2013 and Casino followed by City of Dreams.
Once completed, Okada Manila will be a sprawling 21.55-hectare development that includes two hotels, a dancing water fountain similar to the Fountains of Bellagio in Las Vegas, Asia’s first beach club/nightclub that can accommodate up to 4,500 people, and other luxurious amenities such as high-end food and beverage outlets, retail outlets, spa and function areas.
Soriano said the city’s unemployment statistics would decrease by next year after Okada’s announcement of hiring 8,000 Filipinos, mostly from Parañaque, with the completion of the facility in February.
The jobs would cover positions in casino gaming, casino marketing, club operations, security and surveillance, facilities management, hotel operations, food and beverage and cage operations, he said.
Soriano said Parañaque reached greater heights with record numbers of investors and business locators in the city, with the latest count already at over 21,000 business establishments operating in the city.
Following the intensive tax campaign directive of Mayor Edwin Olivarez, the city realized the target annual income of P4.9 billion in 2016, Soriano said. The city’s approved budget in 2017 is P6.3 billion plus P700 million in special education fund, he added.