RP losing billions in potential gaming sector investments

The country is losing out billions in potential investments specifically on the gambling industry because influential sectors protest the inflow of foreign investments into the sector, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said.

“There are a lot of stakeholders here and a lot of sensitivities that is why we are falling behind (on investments when compared to our Asian neighbors),” Trade Secretary Peter B. Favila said in an interview.

According to Favila, the level of foreign direct investments attracted by Singapore and Malaysia is more than triple than what the Philippines got and it is because of the respective entertainment cities located in the countries.

Favila said the government is trying to give what the investors are looking for when they built the PAGCOR city but still the project is receiving so much flak from influential sectors.

Favila did not specifically mention the church, saying only that “the government tries hard to attract investors and then they criticize so they (investors) back out.”

For example, Favila said Steve Wynn’s investment, although it has already been announced several months back, is still pending.

Japanese pachinko giant Aruze, whose chairman Kazuo Okada is Steve Wynn’s equity partner in Wynn Resorts, plans to build the $2.4-billion Okada Resort Manila Bay next January. It will have a hotel with over 2,000 rooms, a casino, a sports arena, an aquarium and a host of other attractions including a giant Ferris wheel called the Manila Eye.

According to the official website of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor), the catholic church opposes any expansion in the gambling industry and that investors are aware of the “delicate situation.”

Favila said the groups opposing gambling should realize that majority of the investments would not come from the gambling but the other industries that would emerge because of the gambling.

He said restaurants and hotels will make up the bulk of the revenues while the casinos will serve only as a come on.

Earlier, Pagcor launched the Bagong Nayong Pilipino – Manila Bay Integrated City.

The Entertainment City will be built in 200 acres of bay front and is expected to attract $15 billion worth of investments.

The idea, Pagcor said, is to create a mini Las Vegas in the Philippines.