{"id":777017332,"date":"2024-07-17T09:29:23","date_gmt":"2024-07-17T12:29:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777017332"},"modified":"2026-04-22T08:05:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T11:05:20","slug":"manuel-villar-jr-says-his-first-casino-in-the-philippines-could-open-next-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/manuel-villar-jr-says-his-first-casino-in-the-philippines-could-open-next-year","title":{"rendered":"Manuel Villar Jr. says his first casino in the Philippines could open next year"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Filipino businessman has plans for two IRs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The Philipines.- The businessman and former Senate president Manuel Villar Jr has said that the first of his two planned integrated resorts (IRs) with casinos could open next year. The US$1bn IR on the redeveloped 18,000-square-meter Vista Mall Global South on C5 Extension in Las Pi\u00f1as would be close to the Brittany Hotel Global South, formerly the Mella Hotel Manila, which is also owned by the Villar Group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an interview with The Star, Villar Jr said: \u201cWe can open mid to latter part of next year, but most likely the latter part. The structure is there already, we will just convert the mall.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asked about competition from Entertainment City, he said the casino’s location offers a competitive advantage due to its closer proximity to Ninoy Aquino Terminal 1, making it more accessible for international visitors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Villar’s second IR would be located in Villar City, a project that will span 3,500 hectares and 15 satellite cities in Metro Manila and Cavite, each with its distinct purpose. There will be a central business district, a technology-focused area, a university hub and a lifestyle destination. The casino licence for Villar’s project was obtained during the administration of former president Rodrigo Duterte, before a moratorium on new casino licences in 2018, which was lifted in 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

See also: <\/strong>PAGCOR reports net income of US$112.34m for H1<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Filipino businessman has plans for two IRs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":20685,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Filipino businessman Manuel Villar Jr. plans to open the first of two integrated resorts (IRs) with casinos in the Philippines next year, a US$1bn project in Las Pi\u00f1as. The Villar Group's first IR, located near Ninoy Aquino Terminal 1, aims to leverage its accessibility for international visitors. A second IR is planned for Villar City, with the necessary casino license secured prior to the 2018 moratorium.","focusai_entities":"Manuel Villar Jr., Villar Group, Rodrigo Duterte, PAGCOR","focusai_location":"Philippines, Las Pi\u00f1as, Metro Manila, Cavite","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (0.85), compliance_legal (0.8), operator_casino (0.9), investor_analyst (0.95), supplier_vendor (0.8), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"IR Project Funding","query":"What is the specific capital structure and financing strategy for the US$1bn integrated resort project, and what are the projected ROI timelines and debt-to-equity ratios?"},{"label":"Regulatory Compliance Advantage","query":"How does the pre-2018 casino license acquisition provide a sustained competitive advantage given the subsequent moratorium and its lifting, particularly concerning future regulatory changes or license renewal processes by PAGCOR?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,16333],"tags":[14017,23907],"class_list":["post-777017332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-casino-news","category-south-east-asia-news","tag-integrated-resort","tag-land-based-casino"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777017332","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=777017332"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777017332\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777017347,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777017332\/revisions\/777017347"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777017332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777017332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777017332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}