{"id":22080,"date":"2021-08-27T12:28:09","date_gmt":"2021-08-27T15:28:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=22080"},"modified":"2026-04-23T16:13:23","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T19:13:23","slug":"galaxy-entertainment-could-resume-plans-for-boracay-casino","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/galaxy-entertainment-could-resume-plans-for-boracay-casino","title":{"rendered":"Galaxy Entertainment could resume plans for Boracay casino"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

With Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte changing his mind about a ban on gambling on the island, Galaxy Entertainment could resume its plans for resort development on Boracay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The Philippines.- The Philippine president, Rodrigo Duterte, has rekindled the possibility of\u00a0allowing gambling in Bocaray<\/strong>, noting that his country needs income to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Duterte stated: “We don\u2019t have money now. Where we can get money, I will get it.\u00a0If it will be from gambling, so be it<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The news leaves the door open for\u00a0Galaxy Entertainment<\/strong>\u00a0to come back with a casino resort project on Boracay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2018, the casino operator got a licence to\u00a0build a $500m IR on the island<\/strong>. It partner with\u00a0Leisure & Resorts World Corp.<\/strong>\u00a0(LRWC) and bought parcels of land to start building the IR, which the company described as a low-rise, eco-friendly project. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However,\u00a0Duterte closed the island destination to tourism\u00a0<\/strong>out of concerns for the environment, saying that an increased number of visitors was turning Boracay into a \u201ccesspool.\u201d LRWC<\/a>\u00a0dropped its plans soon afterwards, leaving Galaxy Entertainment without a partner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In July, the possibility of\u00a0casino gaming on Boracay island<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>resurfaced after the House of Representatives approved the creation of the\u00a0Boracay Island Development Authority<\/strong>\u00a0as a government-owned and controlled corporation (GOCC). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the bill, was\u00a0highly criticised by government agencies<\/strong>, local government units, stakeholders and some congressmen who want to protect the island\u2019s environment. A\u00a0\u201cNo to Bida as GOCC\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0movement has been campaigning against the move.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Natividad Bernardino<\/strong>, chairman of the Boracay Inter-Agency Rehabilitation Management Group, said: \u201cThe problem of Boracay is one of over-tourism and overdevelopment.\u00a0What we need in terms of sustaining the rehabilitation and ecological sustainability of the island is\u00a0a regulatory body instead of a GOCC<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She said\u00a0the island has already exceeded its carrying capacity\u00a0<\/strong>for the environment and population, and that there is no more space for further investment and development.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte changing his mind about a ban on gambling on the island, Galaxy Entertainment could resume its plans for resort development on Boracay.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":19766,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Philippine President Duterte has reversed his stance on gambling in Boracay, citing the need for post-pandemic economic recovery, which could reactivate Galaxy Entertainment's previously shelved $500m integrated resort project. This policy shift faces significant opposition from environmental groups and local government units concerned about over-tourism and the island's ecological carrying capacity.","focusai_entities":"Rodrigo Duterte, Galaxy Entertainment, Leisure & Resorts World Corp. (LRWC), Boracay Island Development Authority (BIDA), Boracay Inter-Agency Rehabilitation Management Group, Natividad Bernardino","focusai_location":"Philippines, Boracay","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (0.9), compliance_legal (0.8), operator_casino (0.95), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.7), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Boracay IR Feasibility?","query":"What specific regulatory and environmental governance frameworks would need to be established or amended to ensure the long-term viability and sustainability of an integrated resort project in Boracay, addressing concerns about ecological carrying capacity?"},{"label":"Galaxy Entertainment Strategy?","query":"How might Galaxy Entertainment mitigate the significant environmental and community opposition, and what revised partnership or operational strategies would be required given the previous dissolution with LRWC?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,16333],"tags":[22935,23907],"class_list":["post-22080","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-casino-news","category-south-east-asia-news","tag-galaxy-entertainment","tag-land-based-casino"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22080","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22080"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22080\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22094,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22080\/revisions\/22094"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}