City of Dreams opens in Manila

Sunday 14th of December 2014

Melco Crown Entertainment held the soft opening of its $1.4 billion City of Dreams integrated resort in the Philippines on Sunday, becoming the second casino to open in Manila’s Entertainment City hub and the largest property by far. Doors opened to the public at 3 pm with the mass gaming areas, CenterPlay, a live performance lounge inside the casino; the PokerStars Live room on the second floor; Nobu restaurant and tea lounge; Hyatt Hotel and some F&B and retail areas operational.

The company has said the grand opening will be held before Chinese New Year in 2015.

The resort will have more than 365 gaming tables, 1,700 slot machines and 1,700 electronic table games and is widely seen as the start to a true gaming center in the country.

Melco Crown says its latest integrated resort will have a strategic mix of hotel brands, ensuring a "celebrity-inspired and fun-luxury experience." It will have six hotel towers, including the 260-room Crown Towers hotel, which will cater to the high-end VIP and premium mass market segments, and the 321-room Nobu Hotel Manila, a project spearheaded by celebrity chef Nobu Matsuhisa, and championed by Hollywood actor Robert De Niro and Hollywood producer Meir Teper.

The latter will feature a Nobu Restaurant where customers can enjoy signature dishes as well as a special in-room menu crafted by Chef Nobu.

The resort, developed with local partner Belle Corp., will feature a wider range of entertainment options than currently available in the Philippines’ other casino resorts.

Venues will include Manila’s first branded Family Entertainment Center, a venture with Hollywood film studio Dreamworks.

It will be the second integrated resort to open in the Philippine Amusement & Gaming Corporation's (PAGCOR) Entertainment City, a gaming and entertainment complex built on 8 km² of land on the reclamation area of Manila Bay. Bloomberry Resorts' $1 billion Solaire Resort and Casino began operations there in March 2013. Universal Entertainment Corporation's Manila Bay Resorts is expected to be completed in 2015 while Genting Hong Kong and Alliance Global’s Resorts World Bayshore is expected to open in 2018.

Despite being in the early stages of development, the gaming industry in the country is expected to pull in as much as $4.5 billion by 2018, double the 2013 levels, according to J.P. Morgan. About 45 percent of that additional growth is likely to be driven by City of Dreams.