Galaxy Entertainment Group, a Macau-based concessionaire denied in a statement issued late Monday that it planned to enter Boracay Island to build a casino resort.
This statement puts to rest speculations in the Filipino media that Galaxy will resume work on Boracay Island, which was halted.
Galaxy Entertainment said that its main focus is Macau and the ongoing development of Galaxy Macau.
This statement follows comments made by Alfredo Benitez in the Philippines Business Inquirer. Benitez is the founder and CEO of DigiPlus Interactive Corp.
Galaxy’s Benitez wants them to come back to Boracay
The newspaper reported that he was “gauging” the comfort level of Galaxy in resuming work at its Boracay Casino. Digiplus was Galaxy’s partner for the Philippines in a $500m planned casino resort. The project, however, was scrapped in 2018, when the then president Rodrigo Duterte prohibited the construction of casinos on the island. The project was halted after a six month island wide clean-up.
Benitez, who was president of DigiPlus in 2021 but is still the largest shareholder of DigiPlus, resigned to run as mayor of Bacolod City.
Galaxy has not returned to the Island since 2021, despite the President making a U turn to ease fiscal concerns related to Covid-19. Benitez said to Business Inquirer the Marcos government might welcome the new investment because it understands the importance of the investors.
Galaxy has issued a short statement to put an end to speculation. It states that, “contrary recent media reports”, it does not have any interest in the scheme.
Galaxy boosted by Macau’s good news
Galaxy announced that its Macau operations will receive more attention as it recovers from a decline in business in 2022.
In its Q2 financial report, Galaxy reported a 257% year-on-year increase in revenue to HK$8.7bn (PS914.1m/$1.12bn/EUR1.05bn).
The company stated that it would focus on the recently relaunched phase 3 development program in the Special Administrative Region, and the construction of Phase 4 – the next stage of this project.
