Casino Homeland

Casinos in Asia: The Philippines

Just three decades since casino-style gaming became legal, the Philippines has become the second largest gaming market in Asia after Macau. For three decades, growth has been steady, if unspectacular. Moreover, prospects in the near- and medium-term are bright.

In common with most other countries, the gaming industry in the country caters mainly to residents, especially Chinese-Filipino businessmen. This is evident in the site selection, games in play and entertainment choices.

The development of the industry is subject to fits and starts owing to the ambivalent nature of Philippine society: quick to adapt the latest trends from the West but sensitive to the moral influence of a predominantly-Catholic population. The government-owned Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR) had a monopoly of all casino-style gaming since 1977 but it has frequently had to back down from attempts to open casinos in more cities or to launch more slot machine arcades on account of resistance led by bishops. Stanley Ho himself was stopped from docking a floating restaurant in Manila Bay amid accusations it would house a floating casino.

Nonetheless, Filipinos are fond of gambling. There are horse racing tracks, a cockpit (and an illegal numbers game) in every town, and numerous popular card games. This explains why most of the Casino Filipino (CF, the PAGCOR brand for all its venues) branches are right in the middle of Metro Manila and other principal cities. Four others are in up market resorts one to two hours' drive from the capital, thus staving off criticism that casinos will bankrupt the very poorest Filipinos.

Given a largely domestic market, slot machines and traditional table games like Baccarat, Blackjack, Roulette, Craps, Big & Small dice, Stud Poker, Pontoon, War, and Super 6 have had to be supplemented by Bingo and "Pula at Puti" ("red and white", a country fair game using ping-pong balls). In addition, there are tables for Pai Gow Poker and "Qim Pan Chong" dominoes both of which which cater to Chinese players; Filipinos adapt easily to the former, however, because it resembles the local favorite "pusoy". Since most Filipino players are middle-aged businessmen and their wives, PAGCOR is able to get by mounting low-cost events like ballroom dancing and charity bingo. Entertainment does not have to spotlight international or national chartbusters either. After all, the country is rich with talented solo performers and bands.

There is, moreover, a steady stream of "gaming tourists" principally from the Republic of China, Hong Kong and mainland China. Whether they fly in as F.I.T's or in tour groups, such tourists are interested primarily in spending time at the gaming tables of 19 casinos around the country (a twentieth is due to re-open).

This may be why Airport Casino, one the most enduring CF properties, is sited right on the periphery of the Manila International Airport. Charters and scheduled flights also go direct to Laoag International Airport in the north, a quick hop for gamers from Hong Kong and Chinese Taipei, where Casino Filipino Laoag sits in splendid isolation in a beachfront garden resort hotel.

Cebu Island in the central Philippines attracts numerous European, American and Asian tourists. CF has two properties there, one in a Cebu City business district and a second in resort-strewn Mactan island.

In the Subic Bay Freeport Zone are two more, Diamond and Legenda, also patronized by Taiwanese and Hong Kong residents who fly in direct.

Already fairly liberalized, the Philippine gaming industry promises to become even more dynamic. PAGCOR has already opened up licensing and there are now six foreign-owned casinos. And many Filipinos are already comfortable with online betting.