As reported by several local news outlets that cover Asian gambling markets, one of the leading Asia-based leisure and hotel operators, the International Entertainment Corporation firm has just recently informed its biggest investors that one of the company’s subsidiaries wants to bring a fully integrated casino gambling-friendly resort to the city of Manila.

According to the company’s officials, the subsidiary is working on its official application which if approved grants the company all of the necessary permissions to start working on its casino project. One report released by Inside Asian Gaming proclaimed that the Hong Kong-listed company used its official press release to share more details about its future plans. It was revealed that the Marina Square Properties Incorporated subsidiary intends to communicate with the PAGCor or the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation regulatory body.

The Marina Square Properties Incorporated firm will ask the main regulator for the industry in the Philippines to approve a provisional casino license with that the company will be legally allowed to premier a gambling-facility at a still unknown location in the country’s capital city. Today, International Entertainment Corporation owns and manages the New Coast Hotel Manila that features two hundred eighty-eight rooms.

International Entertainment Corporation

Formerly known as the New World Manila Bay Hotel venue, New Coast Hotel Manila leases small space to the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation gaming operations. According to Inside Asian Gaming, the company will be also required to obtain permission from the Philippines government alongside a letter of objection before it can officially submit its proposal for the necessary provisional casino license.

International Entertainment Corporation emerged on the scene in 1998 which means it has been around for over twenty years now. The company’s official filling released several days ago revealed that the company also intends to upgrade and expand its current services, operations as well as hotel facilities and premises and one way of doing so is by establishing a fully integrated casino resort in the country’s capital of Manila.

The company’s filing reads that its board is delighted to announce that on the 10^th of June, its subsidiary Marina Square Properties Incorporated finally submitted a request to the city of Manila government for its official approval to grant the letter of objection. At the moment, the Hong Kong-listed International Entertainment Corporation has the Asian rights to many different live poker events including the events which are operated by the PokerStars brand operated and owned by The Stars Group Incorporated.

City of Dreams Manila

The city of Manilla is home to many iconic gambling-friendly facilities as well as casinos besides the New Coast Hotel Manilla. One of the most iconic venues of this kind in the city is definitely the City of Dreams Manilla luxury fully integrated casino complex located on the Entertainment City strip in Metro Manilla. The facility owned and operated by Melco Resorts and Entertainment opened in 2015.

The property is located on a 15-acre land plot and it features six hotel towers packed with almost one thousand rooms including a Hyatt Regency Hotel, Nuwa Hotel, and Nobu Hotel. The gaming floor is packed with over two thousand gaming tables, over one hundred and fifty electronic table games, and over one thousand and six hundred slot machines. If Marina Square Properties Incorporated is granted the provisional casino license for its planned casino resort, the City of Dreams resort will get another major competitor.

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.