Philippine city tries to discourage a casino project

Quezon City’s council has limited the residents’ access to an area where Bloomberry Resorts plans to build a gaming hub.

Philippines.- Bloomberry Resorts Corp. is moving forward with its gaming hub in Quezon City, but the local authorities seem to be determined to boycott the development: the city council just passed a regulatory ordinance to limit residents’ access to the area.

City Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte was clear about her intentions to make it hard for the company to profit from the venue: “Since the argument is it should be for tourism, it should cater only to tourists,” she told local news outlet the Inquirer. “We’ll really make it hard for Quezon City residents to go [inside] the casino.”

“They told me it would be a waste if these people still had to go to Parañaque,” sha added. “I told them, ‘I don’t care.’ Can you imagine, the number of Quezon City gamblers would double, especially since the casino is along Edsa?”

However, she recognised the impact such a venue would have in terms of created jobs and money flow: “I understand the benefits economically of having it,” she said.

Despite PAGCOR’s chairwoman Andrea Domingo assured such a regulatory change was only possible to get enforced by the gaming body, Belmonte stated: “I welcome [the TRO] so the courts can decide whether it’s the Pagcor charter or Local Government Code that has precedence.”