PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte lifted the three-year moratorium on the establishment of new casinos in the country. Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor), headed by our cabalen Didi Domingo, may be jumping with joy with the news coming from the palace. Another businessman who must be happy is Davao based Dennis Uy. His Emerald casino in Cebu will be operational soon. Another one coming up in Boracay. Now someone can swim with the money. There are just lucky people.
In Clark Freeport, we already have Royce, Mimosa, Midori, Donggwang Heights, Clark Global and Widus. Another casino is being built by Dae Sik Han a Korean businessman called Hann Casino Resort. (Btw. Clark Development Corporation should monitor operations of Widus casino business. I visited the place three times recently and not even a minimum health protocol is being observed. I was told on Saturdays the casino hold raffle and hundreds of people including hangers-on and the rule on physical distancing is flatly disobeyed. No safeguards, as in none. Paging Dae Sik Han. Your casino operation managers are sleeping on their jobs).
To recall, the first casino to be established when Clark was yet an economic zone was the Mimosa Regency Casino initially operated by Jose Antonio Gonzales, aka JAG who was a former secretary of the Department of Tourism during the Cory Aquino administration. Somehow it went to government hands in 1999 following the reported failure of Gonzales to strictly comply to certain provisions of the lease agreement. Few years later big casinos came in succession. Fontana was established by Filipino-Chinese businessman Robin Tan. Only few years of operation he sold it to Lucio Co of Puregold and much later the whole of the leisure estate was sold to Jimei, a Hong Kong company own by Jack Lam. Fontana was raided by troopers following the illegal operation of on-line gaming.
Taiwanese businessmen built the Midori Hotel and Casino after successful years of operating the Eagle Sky, the first on-line casino operations inside Clark. This Eagle Sky was also investigated by law enforcement agencies sometime ago. Dae Sik Han started a small operation of Widus casino and grew by leaps and bounds over the years. The late Congressman Carmelo “Tarzan” Lazatin partnered with businessman Damian Ramos and put up Casablanca casino which was later on sold to Chinese businessmen and renamed it Fortune Gate. The latest addition is the Heights Casino at the Sun Valley. Sportsman and Lubao businessman Rodolfo ‘Bong’ Pineda purchased a bankrupted hotel owned by a Baguio City businessman and renovated it into a four star hotel casino and named it Royce Hotel and Casino. An adjacent new casino hotel is presently under construction.
One of the recorded richest men in the country today was the late Henry Sy Sr. His life was an interesting success story. He migrated into the country and started selling shoes in a small store on Carriedo Street in Sta. Cruz district in Manila in the fifties and through hardwork and perseverance he made to the top and that store became a conglomerate now managed by his children led by eldest daughter Teresita Sy Coson, Henry Sy Jr. and Hans Sy. The family, for many years now always makes the list among the most moneyed in the world. In the nineties, the family ventured into casino business. The family is part owner of City of Dreams Hotels and Casino. The Sys expanded their retail empire into banking, power and property businesses and the family elected to join the gaming industry. Casino business is good and a very very profitable business. The incomes maybe down in the more than two years now since the pandemic but it can rebound once the virus is gone. There’s no business like casino business.