Belle Corp. and partner Melco Crown (Philippines) Resorts Corp. plan to establish a second casino in the country and expand City of Dreams Manila, its first project in Parañaque City, an executive said Monday.
Belle vice chairman Willy Ocier said in an interview following the annual stockholders’ meeting the company planned to acquire lots surrounding City of Dreams Manila to expand the project, which was now running at full capacity
Ocier said the group was also open for a joint venture over a property contiguous to City of Dreams Manila to support the expansion plan.
He said aside from City of Dream’s expansion, the group was looking for a second casino in the Philippines, whether within Metro Manila or outside the capital region.
Ocier said the group would seek a second gaming license with state-run Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. once it identified the site for the planned casino.
He said City of Dreams Manila, which sits on a 6.2-hectare lot, was operating at full capacity, prompting the company to look for lots within the property for possible expansion.
“We are looking for neighboring site or land contiguous with COD. We are open also for joint venture partnership,” Ocier said.
He said the group would initially develop Belle’s existing 8,500-square-meter property near City of Dreams for the expansion of the integrated gaming and entertainment complex.
“We are planning with Melco,” Ocier said.
Belle said City of Dreams Manila was performing well, thanks to the strong management ability of Melco group, which was bringing a lot of players not only from China but also from other neighboring countries.
“City of Dreams is growing significantly and there is a good chance it will become number one in gross gaming revenue this year among integrated resorts,” Belle president Manuel Gana said.
Total gross revenue of the Philippine gaming industry reached $3 billion in 2016. City of Dreams Manila registered of P25 billion last year, up 80 percent from 2015.
Bloomberry Resorts Corp., which operates Solaire Resorts Corp., reported P38.5 billion while Travellers Hotel Group Inc., which operates Resorts World Manila, posted P23.6 billion in 2016.
Belle posted a consolidated net income of P3.1 billion in 2016, or 74 percent higher than a year ago. The growth was fueled primarily by growth in revenues from City of Dreams Manila.
Its share in the gaming income of City of Dreams Manila, through 78.7-percent owned subsidiary, Premium Leisure Corp., more than doubled to P1.6 billion in 2016 from P756 million in 2015.
This was attributed to the ramp-up in gaming operations at City of Dreams Manila, which held its grand opening in February 2015.