LWRC, Galaxy eye Boracay casino-resort

Boracay continues to be a mainstay on the bucket list of many travelers who were captivated by its charm.

Local gaming firm Leisure and Resorts World Corp. (LWRC) is in talks with Hong Kong-listed Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd. (GEG), one of the three original gaming concessionaires in Macau, to build a world-class integrated beach resort and casino in Boracay Island.

This is a project estimated to cost $300 million to $500 million, LWRC director Willy Ocier said.

Ocier said the prospective casino-resort in Boracay Island would be located somewhere “facing east.”

GEG and LRWC executives paid a courtesy call on President Rodrigo Duterte last week to discuss the project, the two companies said in a press statement on Monday. The GEG team was led by its chair Lui Che-woo, vice chair Francis Lui Yiu Tung and other senior managers.

“Galaxy is excited about the possibility of teaming with LRWC to develop a world class beach resort for our players in Boracay which was just rated the number one island in the world in 2017 by Conde Nast Traveller readers,” Yiu Tung said.

He added that with improving China-Philippines relations, GEG and its mother company K Wah Group were hoping to play a role in China’s One-Belt-One-Road initiative and were wishing to explore what they deemed to be “attractive” business opportunities in the Philippines.

Katrina Nepomuceno, LRWC vice president for legal and corporate secretary, said the company was honored and pleased to be chosen as GEG’s local partner. “We look forward to working with GEG in bringing a world class resort to the island-paradise of Boracay. If the project materializes as envisaged, it’s going to be a game changer in the Philippine resort and tourism landscape,” she said.

Publicly-listed LRWC is a holding firm with interests in property development focusing on leisure business, gaming and recreation. The company owns Bingo parlors all over the Philippines and has an existing license agreement with the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority to develop, operate and conduct internet and gaming enterprises and facilities in the Cagayan Special Economic Zone Freeport. It’s also engaged in the hotel and recreation business.