{"id":39802,"date":"2016-09-19T15:00:01","date_gmt":"2016-09-19T22:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=39802"},"modified":"2016-09-19T14:29:01","modified_gmt":"2016-09-19T21:29:01","slug":"bloombury-enrique-razon-unfazed-by-philipinne-duterte-builds-manila-casino","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/bloombury-enrique-razon-unfazed-by-philipinne-duterte-builds-manila-casino\/","title":{"rendered":"Bloombury Resorts Owner Enrique Razon Unfazed by Filipino Duterte’s War on Gambling"},"content":{"rendered":"

Spanish-Filipino billionaire Enrique Razon will forge ahead with his plan to build a $418 million casino in Manila, despite Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte\u2019s<\/a> hardline crackdown on gambling.<\/p>\n

\"enrique-razon-rodrigo-duterte-philippines-casinos\"
Casino developer Enrique Razon says that business is booming since Rodrigo Duterte swept to power in the Philippines. His second casino in Manila is scheduled to be completed in 2019. (Image: asia.nikkei.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Shortly after his election in June, Duterte set about systematically dismantling the country\u2019s lightly regulated online gaming caf\u00e9 chains. Most of these, some 299 across the country, were owned by Philweb<\/a>, whose owner Robert Ongpin appears to have incurred Duterte\u2019s wrath.<\/p>\n

Philweb offered online video poker and slots via around 8,000 terminals, contributing around $12.2 million in taxes to the government’s coffers.<\/p>\n

But despite that, Ongpin was representative of the \u201coligarchs\u201d to Duterte, which he believed were \u201cembedded in government\u201d and practiced \u201cinfluence peddling.\u201d In July, the new leader ordered the Philippine gambling regulator PAGCOR not to renew Philweb’s license.<\/p>\n

Razon Gambling on Duterte’s Vision<\/h2>\n

Razon, the founder of Bloomberry Resorts Corp., appears to have escaped a similar classification, and remains confident that Duterte\u2019s crackdown extends only to the online gaming caf\u00e9s. In fact, he told Bloomberg News<\/em> this week that the closure of the caf\u00e9s is a positive for the casino industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think cracking down on this, looking at it from our perspective, helps the licensed casinos,\u201d Razon said.<\/p>\n

\n

Bloomberry\u2019s Solaire Resort and Casino in Manila Bay is operating at \u201cfull capacity,\u201d Razon said, and visitor numbers are up since Duterte\u2019s election, as the president has sought to improve his country\u2019s relations with China.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Construction of the new property, in Quezon City in north Manila, is slated to begin in the middle of next year, and could be finished during 2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe prospects for the gaming industry are improving,\u201d Richard Laneda, an analyst at COL Financial Group Inc. in Manila, told Bloomberg<\/em>. \u201cThe improvement in Chinese traffic is driving sentiment, for it accounts for 30 . . . to 40 percent of the VIP market.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a While, Crocodile<\/h2>\n

Duterte swept to his power mandate with a promise to wipe out crime and drugs. The president unapologetically unleashed death squads into his country, who carry out extra-judicial killings of criminals and habitual drug users with impunity.<\/p>\n

At a hearing of the Philippine Senate last week, an alleged member of one of these death squads told lawmakers that he was paid by Duterte, when he was mayor of the southern Philippine city of Davao, to carry out executions that involved chopping up a body and feeding it to a crocodile, while dumping other bodies in the sea. He also alleged that the president finished off one victim himself.<\/p>\n

Over 3,000 Filipinos have been killed so far as part of Duterte\u2019s “war on drugs” in the three months since he was elected, with no trials and often with no evidence of any involvement at all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Spanish-Filipino billionaire Enrique Razon will forge ahead with his plan to build a $418 million casino in Manila, despite Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte\u2019s hardline crackdown on gambling. Shortly after his election in June, Duterte set about systematically dismantling the country\u2019s lightly regulated online gaming caf\u00e9 chains. Most of these, some 299 across the country, were […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":39819,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,61],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBloombury Enrique Razon Unfazed Filipino Duterte Builds Manila Casino<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Bloomberry Resorts CEO Enrique Razon is not worried about Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte\u2019s war on gambling, and plans to build a casino in Manila.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bloombury Enrique Razon Unfazed Filipino Duterte Builds Manila Casino\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Bloomberry Resorts CEO Enrique Razon is not worried about Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte\u2019s war on gambling, and plans to build a casino in Manila.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/bloombury-enrique-razon-unfazed-by-philipinne-duterte-builds-manila-casino\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-09-19T22:00:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-09-19T21:29:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Enrique-Razon-Rodrigo-Duterte-Philippines-casinos.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"580\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"387\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/bloombury-enrique-razon-unfazed-by-philipinne-duterte-builds-manila-casino\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/bloombury-enrique-razon-unfazed-by-philipinne-duterte-builds-manila-casino\/\",\"name\":\"Bloombury Enrique Razon Unfazed Filipino Duterte Builds Manila Casino\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/bloombury-enrique-razon-unfazed-by-philipinne-duterte-builds-manila-casino\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/bloombury-enrique-razon-unfazed-by-philipinne-duterte-builds-manila-casino\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Enrique-Razon-Rodrigo-Duterte-Philippines-casinos.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-09-19T22:00:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-09-19T21:29:01+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c48bf89dc86da77b4d856c7b3b78d77\"},\"description\":\"Bloomberry Resorts CEO Enrique Razon is not worried about Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte\u2019s war on gambling, and plans to build a casino in Manila.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/bloombury-enrique-razon-unfazed-by-philipinne-duterte-builds-manila-casino\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/bloombury-enrique-razon-unfazed-by-philipinne-duterte-builds-manila-casino\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/bloombury-enrique-razon-unfazed-by-philipinne-duterte-builds-manila-casino\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Enrique-Razon-Rodrigo-Duterte-Philippines-casinos.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Enrique-Razon-Rodrigo-Duterte-Philippines-casinos.jpg\",\"width\":580,\"height\":387,\"caption\":\"Casino developer Enrique Razon says that business is booming since Rodrigo Duterte swept to power in the Philippines. His second casino in Manila is scheduled to be completed in 2019. (Image: asia.nikkei.com)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/bloombury-enrique-razon-unfazed-by-philipinne-duterte-builds-manila-casino\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Commercial Gaming\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/commercial-gaming\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Live Casinos\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/commercial-gaming\/live-casinos\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"Bloombury Resorts Owner Enrique Razon Unfazed by Filipino Duterte’s War on Gambling\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c48bf89dc86da77b4d856c7b3b78d77\",\"name\":\"Casino.org Staff Writer\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0853bd574da5b217483afb1fbbee33a5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0853bd574da5b217483afb1fbbee33a5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Casino.org Staff Writer\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/corg-staff-writer\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Bloombury Enrique Razon Unfazed Filipino Duterte Builds Manila Casino","description":"Bloomberry Resorts CEO Enrique Razon is not worried about Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte\u2019s war on gambling, and plans to build a casino in Manila.","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Bloombury Enrique Razon Unfazed Filipino Duterte Builds Manila Casino","og_description":"Bloomberry Resorts CEO Enrique Razon is not worried about Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte\u2019s war on gambling, and plans to build a casino in Manila.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/bloombury-enrique-razon-unfazed-by-philipinne-duterte-builds-manila-casino\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2016-09-19T22:00:01+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-09-19T21:29:01+00:00","og_image":[{"width":580,"height":387,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Enrique-Razon-Rodrigo-Duterte-Philippines-casinos.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Casino.org Staff Writer","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Casino_Org","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Casino.org Staff Writer","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/bloombury-enrique-razon-unfazed-by-philipinne-duterte-builds-manila-casino\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/bloombury-enrique-razon-unfazed-by-philipinne-duterte-builds-manila-casino\/","name":"Bloombury Enrique Razon Unfazed Filipino Duterte Builds Manila Casino","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/bloombury-enrique-razon-unfazed-by-philipinne-duterte-builds-manila-casino\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/bloombury-enrique-razon-unfazed-by-philipinne-duterte-builds-manila-casino\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Enrique-Razon-Rodrigo-Duterte-Philippines-casinos.jpg","datePublished":"2016-09-19T22:00:01+00:00","dateModified":"2016-09-19T21:29:01+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c48bf89dc86da77b4d856c7b3b78d77"},"description":"Bloomberry Resorts CEO Enrique Razon is not worried about Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte\u2019s war on gambling, and plans to build a casino in Manila.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/bloombury-enrique-razon-unfazed-by-philipinne-duterte-builds-manila-casino\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/bloombury-enrique-razon-unfazed-by-philipinne-duterte-builds-manila-casino\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/bloombury-enrique-razon-unfazed-by-philipinne-duterte-builds-manila-casino\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Enrique-Razon-Rodrigo-Duterte-Philippines-casinos.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Enrique-Razon-Rodrigo-Duterte-Philippines-casinos.jpg","width":580,"height":387,"caption":"Casino developer Enrique Razon says that business is booming since Rodrigo Duterte swept to power in the Philippines. His second casino in Manila is scheduled to be completed in 2019. (Image: asia.nikkei.com)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/bloombury-enrique-razon-unfazed-by-philipinne-duterte-builds-manila-casino\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Commercial Gaming","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/commercial-gaming\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Live Casinos","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/commercial-gaming\/live-casinos\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Bloombury Resorts Owner Enrique Razon Unfazed by Filipino Duterte’s War on Gambling"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c48bf89dc86da77b4d856c7b3b78d77","name":"Casino.org Staff Writer","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0853bd574da5b217483afb1fbbee33a5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0853bd574da5b217483afb1fbbee33a5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Casino.org Staff Writer"},"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/corg-staff-writer\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39802"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/42"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39802"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39802\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}