Universal seeks to extend casino completion deadline

Pagcor demands $800-M guarantee

An affiliate of Japan's Universal Entertainment Corp is seeking to extend a deadline to finish its $1.6 billion Manila casino-resort development as it readies documents to show why its license should not be suspended over project delays, the head of the Philippine gaming regulator said.

The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (Pagcor) in May confiscated a $2.2 million guarantee payment from Universal affiliate Tiger Resorts Leisure and Entertainment Inc, owned by Japanese billionaire Kazuo Okada. Citing project delays, Pagcor threatened to suspend Tiger's permit and gave the firm until July 21 to explain why its provisional gaming license should not be suspended.

"They want to have an extension. We are looking into it," Cristino Naguiat, Chairman of Pagcor, told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday. Naguiat said Tiger still needs to spend $800 million to finish the project by December 2016, a year later than planned.

The official said Pagcor was still in deliberations on Tiger's possible permit suspension. The firm was working to submit documents in a few weeks to prevent the license being frozen, he said.

A Universal spokesman in Tokyo contacted by Reuters declined to comment.

Pagcor wants Tiger to submit a bank guarantee for the $800 million it says is needed to complete the 44hectare Manila Bay Resorts, Naguiat said.

Tiger must also pay a new bond of $2.2 million to extend its project's timeline, Naguiat said. "Unless you show there's money coming, that is the only time I will believe the project will continue," Naguiat said.

Pagcor is also waiting for the Philippine Justice Department's opinion on whether a deal in May by Universal Entertainment to sell its stake in a company owning the land on which the casino resort is being built means Tiger has complied with land ownership rules. By 2018, including the opening of Tiger's project and the $1.1 billion first phase of the Resorts World Bayshore project being developed by Alliance Global Group Inc and Genting Hong Kong Ltd, Naguiat said he expected the country's gaming revenue to hit $6 billion. That would be about three times last year's $2.2 billion revenue.

Gaming revenues will likely hit $2.8 billion to $3 billion this year, up at least 27 percent from 2014, as more foreign gamblers visit the country, he said. (Reuters)