Coming very soon: 24/7 gambling shops, poker parlors near you
Expect all-day, all-night electronic gambling shops, bingo parlors, and sports betting kiosks to start sprouting even in residential condos with commercial floors near you.
Regulations for the opening and locations of poker parlors have likewise been relaxed, jettisoning the previous five-kilometer no-compete distance to allow poker rooms to be “co-located” within the same commercial arcade. In addition, “mixed-use commercial and residential buildings” are allowed to host up to three gaming shops, so long as there are separate entrances for the residential area and the commercial section, according to a Pagcor memorandum sent out to the gaming industry players the other week.
And instead of the 15-hour limit on operations, the electronic gaming parlors and bingo halls may now operate 24-hours nonstop every day, with only Good Friday as break.
According to a gaming executive who asked not to be identified by name, the lowered barriers Pagcor chairman Andrea Domingo had been proposing and backed by quiet industry lobbying were finally approved in mid-September by the board of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.
To skirt the toughened nationwide no-smoking ban,
Domingo mall operators and building owners have the option to designate the gaming areas as their designated smoking zones, the industry executive said.
The relaxations are part of Domingo’s stated mission to make the Philippines the top gaming and entertainment center of the region by 2020, “generating revenues that fund nation-building programs.”
According to the grapevine, it was in anticipation of the revived gaming revenues that goosed Friday the share price of one listed player, the usually thinly-traded DFNN, jumping 17 percent to close at P8.20.
To prevent the gambling establishments from encroaching into residential districts, “no stand-alone gaming site shall be allowed,” Pagcor said, even to egame and bingo parlors “located in a solitary building or establishment, and are not part of any commercial complex or compound.”
Except for horse-race betting outlets, no poker shop will be allowed within 200 meters from a squatter community or resettlement area, public market, school, and house of worship.
The 300-meter distance prohibition from the said places for e-gaming shops and bingo parlors also stays.
In any case, no Pagcor permit will be issued to any gaming establishment unless the applicant can present a clearance issued by the mayor’s office, with the local chief executive himself backed by a city/town council resolution allowing state-sanctioned gambling within their jurisdiction.
De Ocampo gets off Scott-free
Philippine Veterans Bank chairman Roberto de Ocampo has been dropped as a defendant in a sweeping racketeering complaint filed in New York by a Texas lawyer seeking undisclosed millions from the collapsed BankWise thrift bank.
Walter “Skip” Scott Jr., who identified himself as having once served as “special US legal counsel to the Office of the President for the Republic of the Philippines and as Special Adviser to the Secretary of Finance for the Republic of the Philippines,” filed a notice of voluntary dismissal “without prejudice” on De Ocampo and Veterans Bank chief operating officer Nonilo Cruz.
De Ocampo, Veterans Bank and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, whose entire leadership were named defendants in the same suit, have asked New York Southern District Court Judge Denise Cote to dismiss the complaint for lack of jurisdiction, improper venue, and forumshopping. Scott filed the wire and
Scott mail fraud complaint under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, claiming he lost a “seven-figure cash infusion” in the collapsed BankWise despite the thrift bank having been taken over by Veterans Bank.
The US lawyer, whose claimed Philippine investments include ownership stakes in a wine dealership, a call center and a law partnership with Ateneo Law associate dean Lily Gruba, had earlier represented the province of Marinduque in a damage suit dismissed in Nevada for wrong venue against the new Canadian owners of the ill-fated Marcopper mine.
The multinational law firm Allen & Overy represents the Bangko Sentral in the New York litigation, with Baker McKenzie for Veterans Bank.
Heard through the grapevine
The luxury Aman Resorts is pursuing its trademark infringement case against Cebu’s Nexus Real Estate Corp. and loansolutions.ph co-founder and chief executive Jean-Patrick Bisson, in connection with Nexus’ five-tower condominium project in Talisay City.
Nexus had originally branded the Talisay project “Amandari,” then changed it last year to “Antara” after Aman Resorts protested.
It was not immediately clear why the Singapore-based Aman Resorts, which operates the Amanpulo in Palawan, was still pursuing the litigation.
E-mail: moneygoround.manila@yahoo.com