Melco Crown calls City of Dreams Manila opening a company “milestone”

Monday 2nd of February 2015

Melco Crown Entertainment held the gala opening of its $1.3 billion City of Dreams integrated resort in Manila on Monday, saying it’s an important milestone for the company’s development in Asia.

“Today's grand launch is an important milestone for Melco Crown Entertainment as we expand our presence and the City of Dreams brand in the region,” co-Chairman Lawrence Ho said. "It is a further step in realizing our overall vision of delivering diverse, world-class entertainment and lifestyle resorts in Asia, to meet the needs of leisure-seekers across the region.”

City of Dreams is the largest IR to open in Manila’s Entertainment City hub and is widely expected by analysts to be a game changer for the Philippine market.

The resort has 981 hotel rooms under the Crown Towers, Nobu and Hyatt brands, as well as a family-oriented entertainment center designed by DreamWorks Animation.

The company’s operating unit in the Philippines, MCE Leisure, also said in a filing with the stock exchange that it has applied for a permanent casino license with local regulator the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.

It noted that Pagcor's Gaming Licensing and Development Department has confirmed that MCE Leisure and other co-licensees under the provisional license have satisfied the minimum investment requirement of $650 million.

Jorge Sarmiento, President and Chief Operating Officer of PAGCOR said: "Melco Crown Philippines and MCE Leisure have exceeded our high expectations with the completion and opening of this stellar destination resort.”

"Indeed, Melco Crown Entertainment's experience and reputation in delivering world-class integrated resorts is fully recognized and we are confident that City of Dreams Manila will play a key role in the future development of destination tourism to Entertainment City and Manila."

The company said more than 600,000 have visited the integrated casino-resort during its "sneak preview" period which started last December 14. Around 20,000 visited the casino on its first day alone.