MGM not interested in the Philippines

MGM’s Senior VP said that the Philippines market is oversaturated and that they won’t pursue a casino there.

Philippines.- Ed Bowers, MGM Senior Vice-President for Global Development, said that MGM Resorts International is not interested at the moment in the casino market of the Philippines because they consider that it’s oversaturated.

“We looked at Philippines a couple of years ago, and we decided not to go there. I’d say probably partly to do with the market, certainly about the ability of the market to grow,” said the officials during the Global Gaming Expo G2E Asia. “There’s a country risk element in doing business in the Philippines and it’s really high. My concern is that the Philippines is maybe getting a bit oversaturated because you already got operators and there’s another one building,” he added.

The company is currently focused on the Japanese market, as they also mentioned during the expo that they would consider withdrawing their investment proposal if the Congress approved that conditioning law to only allow foreign players to enter casinos in the Asian country. “If you want an IR model in your country, you need it close to large population areas and allow for local entry,” said a representative last week.

Bowers said that if Japanese casinos would be limited to tourists, the investment would not be profitable as it is “not possible to invest less than $1 billion in an IR.” If residents would be banned from casinos, the company would not achieve the expected revenues from its high dollar investment.