{"id":22246,"date":"2021-09-02T07:53:34","date_gmt":"2021-09-02T10:53:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=22246"},"modified":"2026-04-23T16:04:31","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T19:04:31","slug":"geri-plans-boracay-casino-despite-opposition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/geri-plans-boracay-casino-despite-opposition","title":{"rendered":"GERI plans Boracay casino despite opposition"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Andrew Tan has announced that his company, GERI, will go ahead with a project to develop a casino resort on Boracay despite criticism from residents and business owners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The Philippines.- After Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte reignited the possibility of allowing gambling on Boracay<\/a>, billionaire Andrew Tan, chief executive officer and vice chairman of Tan\u2019s Global-Estate Resorts, Inc. (GERI), has announced he has a project for a casino resort on Boracay Newcoast<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He has said he intends to go ahead with the plan despite opposition from residents and environmental groups<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tan said: “We already have several hotels there and we are still building more. There is also a golf course, the only one in the entire Boracay Island. We are very hopeful that the tourism industry in this island will recover fast after the pandemic<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are currently two proposals in Boracay<\/strong>, Tan’s project and LRWC’s potential casino resort<\/a> on which it seeks to work with Galaxy Entertainment Group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alfredo Abelardo Benitez<\/strong>, LRWC director, confirmed to GMA News Online that he plans to revive talks with Galaxy Entertainment to resume their partnership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An original project was announced in December 2017, after LRWC bought the parcels of land in Boracay for US$500m.<\/strong> However, Duterte then closed the island destination to tourism <\/strong>due to concerns for the environment. He said that the increased number of visitors on the island was turning Boracay into a \u201ccesspool.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LRWC dropped its plan<\/a> for a casino on its 23-hectare property in Boracay leaving Galaxy Entertainment as a sole investor. However, a few weeks ago Duterte said his country needs income to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Duterte stated: \u201cWe don\u2019t have money now. Where we can get money, I will get it. If it will be from gambling, so be it<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Brokerage Sanford C. Bernstein Ltd<\/strong> is cautious about the possibility of Galaxy Entertainment being interested in Boracay now as it faces the expiry of its current Macau gaming rights in June 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Boracay residents opposed to gambling on the island<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Residents, businessmen and environmental activists have shown concern <\/strong>regarding a possible casino development in Boracay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kalikasan People\u2019s Network for the Environment <\/strong>has said that amid the Covid-19 pandemic and restrictions, casinos cannot contribute to economic recovery as tourist visitation remain restricted. The group added authorities should focus on increasing the vaccination rate<\/strong> on the island to allow the return of foreign visitors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Residents had already feared that the creation of the <\/strong>Boracay Island Development Authority<\/a> as a government-owned and controlled corporation (GOCC) could lead casinos on the Philippine island.<\/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. What we need in terms of sustaining the rehabilitation and ecological sustainability of the island is a regulatory body instead of a GOCC<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Andrew Tan has announced that his company, GERI, will go ahead with a project to develop a casino resort on Boracay despite criticism from residents and business owners.<\/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":"Andrew Tan's GERI plans to proceed with a casino resort on Boracay, Philippines, despite local and environmental opposition, aligning with President Duterte's push for gambling revenue to aid post-pandemic economic recovery. This development reignites previous plans, including LRWC's potential partnership with Galaxy Entertainment, though market analysts express caution regarding Galaxy's current strategic focus given its Macau license expiry. The situation highlights a conflict between economic imperatives and environmental sustainability, with stakeholders debating the appropriate governance framework for the island.","focusai_entities":"Andrew Tan, GERI (Global-Estate Resorts, Inc.), Rodrigo Duterte, LRWC (Leisure & Resorts World Corporation), Galaxy Entertainment Group, Alfredo Abelardo Benitez, Sanford C. Bernstein Ltd, Kalikasan People\u2019s Network for the Environment, Boracay Island Development Authority, Boracay Inter-Agency Rehabilitation Management Group, Natividad Bernardino","focusai_location":"Boracay, Philippines, Macau","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (0.9), compliance_legal (0.8), operator_casino (0.9), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.7), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Boracay Regulatory Framework","query":"What specific regulatory and licensing frameworks will the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) implement for these new Boracay casino resorts, particularly concerning environmental impact and local community engagement?"},{"label":"Galaxy Entertainment Strategy","query":"How might Galaxy Entertainment Group's strategic focus on its Macau gaming concession renewal impact its commitment to the Boracay project, and what are the potential implications for LRWC's development timeline?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,158,16333],"tags":[23907],"class_list":["post-22246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-casino-news","category-slider-home","category-south-east-asia-news","tag-land-based-casino"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22246","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=22246"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22246\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22253,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22246\/revisions\/22253"}],"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=22246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}