The Philippines is home to some of the most iconic hotel and casino resorts in Asia. As reported recently, some of casino land is offered up for grabs. As revealed by several local news outlets, the state-owned casino and hotel operator in the state is looking forward to making around $8 million by selling three land parcels that it owns in central Luzon. Luzon is the most populous as well as the biggest Philippines island which is also the fifteenth biggest island in the world by its land area.

The island of Luzon is located in the northern area of the Philippines archipelago. It serves as both political and economic center of the whole nation which is not surprising considering that the country’s most populous Quezon City, as well as its capital Manilla, are both located here. When it comes to the country’s casino industry, some of the Luzon-based casino lands are just offered up for sale as reported by the Asia Gaming Brief news outlet.

The PAGCor Eager to Attract Bids for Three Parcels

According to this report, the PAGCor or the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation has already put a $7.7 million price on a 175,828 square feet land plot located in Santa Rosa. It was also reported that the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation has also attached a $250K-worth valuation to a 34,972 square feet land plot located in the nearby Dasmarinas.

As if these upcoming sales are not enough, the country’s gaming regulator is also extremely eager to sell off 160,263 square feet parcel for at least $53,100 which it owns in the city of Paranaque. As revealed by the regulator’s officials, all sales related to these land parcels will be conducted on a cash basis. The Asia Gaming Brief news outlet also shared that individuals interested in purchasing these parcels must be the country’s citizens even though corporate buyers are also allowed to have up to forty percent of their capital in the country managed by some international, offshore entities.

Moreover, the country’s regulator PAGCor stipulated that purchasing any of these land parcels is not set to confer their new owners with any kind of the right to build and operate casinos or any related business including those related to the iGaming industry. In other words, a license to build and operate any kind of gaming operations or a casino license does not come as part of the sale deal for the three parcels. For this reason, the winning bidder of those properties will not have the necessary rights nor the necessary authority to construct and operate a casino venue or any other gaming operation.

The PAGCor Sale from June 2018

The same news outlet which shared the news about the regulator selling off three casino parcels also mentioned that the PAGCor conducted a similar sale in June last year. This action, in particular, had involved almost 40 acres of land situated within the Manilla’s Entertainment City area.

Once this land parcel was offered up for sale, the Sureste Properties Incorporated of the Bloomberry Resorts Corporation was quick to pay for the land around $717 million. The paid price included the combined tracts so that the new owner of the land can enjoy the benefits and attractiveness of the Solaire Resort and Casino venue which features eight hundred rooms alongside other amenities.

The state-operated PAGCor which stands for the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation has issued new gaming licenses to two online gaming operators just several days after the regulator implemented a temporary freeze on issuing new gaming certifications. According to one report, this move was revealed by the regulator’s department and its senior officials including Victor Padilla.

During a meeting that took place on Friday at the regulator’s House of Representatives, PAGCor has issued gaming certifications to some sixty POGO or offshore gaming operators even though only forty-eight of them are active currently. In its official press release, the regulator’s officials also revealed that three companies are still waiting for their official applications to be approved.

When it comes to the newest online gaming licensed issued by the regulator, it seems that these two gaming operators have already been in this club even though Mr. Padilla shared no specific details and information regarding the identities of these newly-approved online gaming operators. He also did not reveal the identity of the third company which applied for its license.

Temporary Freeze on Issuing New Gaming Licenses

Before this move, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation decided to put a temporary freeze on issuing new online gaming licenses after its neighbor China urged it to ban all iGaming activities altogether. This news came shortly before a planned meeting between the two nations’ leaders.

As it was reported, China has urged the Philippines several times to place bans on all types of gambling activities including iGaming activities offered by fully regulated and licensed online gaming operators that serve customers from China. This appeal was made by the country’s foreign ministry Geng Shuang during a press conference that took place just several days after the Philippines announced that the country’s gaming regulator had temporarily stopped granting Philippine Offshore Gaming licenses.

As previously mentioned, before this move, the country’s gaming regulator had already granted almost sixty gaming licenses of this kind. It also accumulated more than $51 million of profit from these offshore gaming licenses in just six months. This represents around seven percent of the regulator’s half-year income. Despite these profitable pursuits, Beijing believes that these kinds of offshore enterprises active in the Philippines illegally target players from China.

Moreover, Chinese officials also expressed their concerns on the provision of proxy betting in that customers utilize mobile phones or live streaming to wager real money in real-time at brick and mortar casinos. At the same time, Mr. Padilla said to legislators that the country’s provision of offshore gaming licenses prohibits online gaming operators from offering their services including streaming in any country that specifically prohibits iGaming.

Beijing Still Urging the Philippines to Ban Online Gambling  

Despite Mr. Padilla explaining to legislators what happens with offshore gaming licenses and what they prohibit, Beijing is not impressed as the country’s foreign ministry Geng Shuang still insists on the Philippines placing a ban on all iGaming activities.

As he revealed publicly, he hopes that the two nations can successfully tackle all sorts of online gaming-related criminal activities and his opinion is that this can happen only if the Philippines’ regulator bans these activities altogether. One country which has already followed these steps as proposed by the Chinese regulator is Cambodia that just recently announced the news about putting a freeze on granting and renewing online gambling licenses.