Inside Asian Gaming

April 2013 | INSIDE ASIAN GAMING 11 COVER STORY Current plans for the supply at Entertainment City that will be chasing this pent-up demand include: • Belle Grande Manila Bay—opening in 2Q14 with 1,900 slots and 350 tables and 1,092 hotel rooms together with non- gaming amenities at a total projected cost of $1.3 billion. Melco Crown’s partner is Belle Corp., a subsidiary of retail giant SM Group, owner of Manila’s Mall of Asia. Belle is well-known in the country as a developer of high-end residential communities (some of which is planned for the Belle Grande complex) and country clubs. • Resorts World Bayshore—this is the partnership between Genting Hong Kong (formerly Star Cruises) and Alliance Global Group that owns Resorts World Manila, Travellers International Hotel Group, it’s called. Opening is slated for 2016 with 2,040 slots, 360 tables and 1,440 rooms. Projected cost: $1.2 billion. • Manila Bay Resorts—a partnership between the Philippines’ Robinsons Land and Tiger Resorts Leisure and Entertainment, a subsidiary of Universal Entertainment, which is controlled by Japanesemachine gaming tycoon Kazuo Okada. Plans call for an opening after 2016 with 3,000 slots, 500 table games, 2,000 hotel rooms, an oceanarium, a sports arena and giant Ferris wheel. Total cost: $2 billion. At some point about midway through all this development the size of the total gaming market is expected to grow to $3 billion, with Entertainment City contributing a little more than half. PAGCOR is looking for total revenue to hit $6 billion by 2015, —a “blue-sky scenario,” CLSA calls it, but not out of the question, the firm says. A lot will depend on the Philippines’ ability to address its notoriously poor road and public transportation infrastructure. This is a big deal in a country where the population is so widely dispersed and where government spends far less on infrastructure on average than other Asian countries. Just getting across Manila is an ordeal. Covering the 5 or 6 kilometers from Ninoy Aquino to Solaire can take 45minutes or more by car. Construction of a flyover from the airport, bypassing the surface streets, is expected to be bid out this year. The “Skyway,” as it’s called, will be funded by the Entertainment City developers, who hope to see it completed by 2015. Solaire, meanwhile, has 8 more hectares of land to work with and plenty more supply already taking shape on it. A $400 million Phase 1a, scheduled for completion in the second half of 2014, will include 300 hotel suites of 75 square meters and larger, about 5,600 square meters of retail, 1,400 square meters of convention and meeting space, a theater on a Broadway scale, world-class spa and fitness facilities, a pool, another 1,300 parking spaces and an expansive bay-front promenade. Gaming Tax Comparison Ebitda Margin Comparison Source: CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets Source: CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets STRIP serves classic steaks and chops.