Another casino in Lapu-Lapu

CEBU, Philippines - Lapu-Lapu City will have another casino soon.

The city council has allowed the establishment and operation of a casino inside a resort in barangay Marigabo.

Last March 1, Mayor Arturo Radaza endorsed to the city council the authorization of the casino’s operation inside Imperial Palace Waterpark resort and spa.

Radaza said the facility will be operated by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor).

Pagcor, as mandated by law, is the sole entity allowed to operate gaming activities in the country. It has already expressed its amenability to establish a casino inside the resort.

Last Wednesday afternoon, the city council approved the resolution without any objections.

Chairman Yong Jun Park of S Pacific Corporation, in his letter to Mayor Radaza, said that putting up a casino “means generating revenues to secure the resort’s financial viability.”

“Foreseeing that the current trend will continue far longer than predited, we have studied other means to generate revenues. The most feasible among these is the establishment of a casino in the resort and collect rental from its operations,” Yong Jun Park said.

Furthermore, Yong Jun Park said that the income from the casino rental and resultant revenues from room, food and beverages will go along way in helping improve the financial status of the resort.

The hotel was declared a tourism economic zone.

The Imperial Palace Waterpark Resort Hotel and Spa - a five-star hotel with 557 guest rooms, suites and villas - is the newest addition to Cebu's slew of world-class resort hotels which is owned and developed by the Philippine BXT Corporation and managed/operated by the Korea-based Imperial Palace Hotel Group.

The resort was inaugurated last June.

Tourism Secretary Joseph “Ace” Durano said Imperial Hotel's status as a tourism economic zone will grant its management a tax holiday for five years and duty-free importation of goods and other hotel facilities.

According to Durano, the hotel operation will boost the local tourism market and attract upper tier travelers.

The hotel provides at least 1,000 jobs to Cebuanos.— Garry B. Lao