KUALA LUMPUR (March 21): Malaysia's Genting Group could see casino operations on the tourist island of Boracay in the Philippines, via a joint venture with tycoon Andrew Tan. 

The Philippine Daily Inquirer in a report today, quoted Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (PAGCOR) chair Andrea Domingo as saying on Tuesday that the government agency approved the proposal of Resorts World Manila to have gaming operations at the Savoy Hotel at Megaword Corp’s Boracay Newcoast development.

“This one made their application and submitted all their requirements in 2014, so that one has also been approved and they have already built a hotel,” Domingo said.

Meanwhile, the PAGCOR chief said the contract-signing for a new US$500 million integrated casino resort with Macau’s Galaxy Entertainment Group and its local partner AB Leisure Exponent Inc, would proceed as scheduled on Wednesday.

In addition to these two large integrated resorts, the PAGCOR chief pointed out that there were also two other casino junket firms with smaller operations located at Movenpick and Crown Regency resorts on the island.

The new integrated resorts on the island as well as in the rest of the country will have to comply with the same room-to-slot machine and room-to-gaming table ratios prescribed.

However, due to their provincial locations and smaller footprints, owners will be required to invest only at least US$300 million instead of the US$1-billion floor for the bigger casino resorts in the capital.

Domingo stressed that in light of President Duterte’s directive to clean up the ecologically-sensitive resort island, regulators were paying close attention to the environmental protection plans of the project proponents.

In the case of the Galaxy integrated resort, Domingo said construction would take anywhere between two and three years and would not be affected by the planned closure of the island for a 6- or 12-month cleanup.

At 12.07pm, Genting gained 0.22% or 2 sen to RM9.01, with 908,000 shares done.