Pagcor to put up casino in Manila Jockey Club complex in Carmona, Cavite

Manila Jockey Club Inc., has reached an agreement with the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) for the establishment of a casino in Carmona, Cavite. In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Manila Jockey said the casino will be located on the third floor of the Turf Building at the San Lazaro Leisure Park in Cavite, which is being developed into a mixed-use complex. The park, which sits on a 77-hectare property, will replace the club’s San Lazaro Hippodrome in Sta. Cruz, Manila. The park’s Turf Club has complete racing facilities anchored on a world-class race track designed by the Japan Racing Facilities Co. Ltd., with 1,600 stables, a 3,600-square meter grandstand and four floors that can accommodate up to 2,000 spectators.

The Carmona horse racing facility is a joint venture between Manila Jockey and KPPI Land Corp. of the Kuok Group.

Once the race track is completed this year, the club will start developing some 23 hectares of the property into a residential-gated community overlooking the race track.

Manila Jockey is also in discussions with a number of real estate developers with respect to its 12-ha. property beside the San Lazaro race track.

The company is hoping to forge a joint venture with Century Communities Inc. for the development of 18 hectares of the Carmona property into a high-end residential subdivision. The company also plans to raise at least P150 million through a stock rights offering to finance the development of the race track. For this purpose, Manila Jockey will raise its authorized capital to P500 million from P300 million. Manila Jockey likewise disclosed that it garnered total betting sales of P2.494 billion as of Sept. 30, slightly better than the year-ago level of P2.464 billion. The firm’s management is looking for more new off-track betting (OTBs) locations in Metro Manila as well as in the provinces.

The company now has a total of 270 quality off-track stations, 29 of which are located in the provinces. It earlier forged a partnership with TAB Philippines, Inc., an Australian company that provides video and data facilities for horse racing broadcast via satellite to OTBs outside Metro Manila.

Manila Jockey is currently scouting for a solvent listed company to transfer its non-core assets through a property-share swap. This is in line with efforts to enhance the development of its real estate properties.

The property-share swap will result in Manila Jockey owning at least 90 percent of the listed firm.