Dennis Uy suspends development of casino in Clark

MANILA, Philippines — Dennis Uy is suspending the development of his casino in Clark, placing bigger bets instead on his planned gaming resort in Cebu.

His plan is to build two casino resorts. One is the Emerald Bay Resort and Casino in Cebu and the other is a casino in Clark, Pampanga.

However, Clark Grand Leisure Corp. (CGLC), a subsidiary of listed PH Resorts Group Holdings Inc. sought the suspension of its Pagcor (Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.) provisional license for the casino.

“CGLC sought for the voluntary suspension of its license due to some lingering uncertainties surrounding the casino gaming industry especially with more competition in the Clark, Pampanga location. The voluntary suspension also allows PHR to ramp up and focus all efforts for the construction and development of its flagship integrated resort and casino project, the Emerald Bay Resort and Casino, located in Mactan, Cebu,” PH Resorts said.

The voluntary suspension shall be effective until further notice and its lifting shall be subject to the approval of the Pagcor board of directors.

PHR said the voluntary suspension of CGLC’s license would have no effect on current financial numbers.

The Mactan casino is scheduled to open by the third quarter of next year.

PHR raised approximately P600 million from a top-up placement to fund the construction of its Cebu casino.

The company continues to report losses for the first half, battered by the negative impact of the global health pandemic.

Its first half net loss widened to P175.6 million from P134.3 million a year ago. Net operating revenues declined by 78 percent to P2.1 billion primarily due to lower occupancy rate of the Donatela Resort & Sanctuary in Bohol owing to the restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.