City of Dreams to go big or go home with opening

Premium Leisure Vice Chairman Willy Ocier declined to confirm the reported opening date. “Let us wait for Melco Crown to confirm [it],” Ocier said.

Premium Leisure is a part of the consortium that holds the Philippine Amusement Gaming Cororation, which has the license for City of Dreams Manila to be operated by Melco Crown Philippines. The company earlier said the grand opening would be held before the Chinese New Year 2015.

This year the Chinese New Year will fall between Feb. 19 to 25. City of Dreams Manila is the second integrated casino resort to open in the Entertainment City project of Pagcor in Paranaque City.

Sources said some 21,000 people trooped to City of Dreams Manila during the soft opening in December.

The US$1.3-billion project, once completed, will have six hotel towers, including the 260-room Crown Towers Hotel, 321-room Nobu Hotel Manila and a Hyatt Hotel, as well as numerous restaurants, bars, gaming facilities and a multi-level car park.

City of Dreams Manila will also feature three distinct entertainment venues, including Manila’s first family entertainment center, a live performance central lounge inside the casino and night club situated at the fortune egg, a dome-like structure that will be the centerpiece of the whole complex.

The casino complex, located on a 6.2-hectare site at the gateway to Entertainment City, will feature a gaming space, including VIP and mass-market gaming facilities with up to 365 gaming tables, 1,680 slot machines and 1,680 electronic table games.

The casino project’s new name, City of Dreams Manila, was patterned after City of Dreams Macau, a world-class flagship project of Melco Crown Entertainment.

Entertainment City is a 120-hectare development of Pagcor. The area is being promoted as an integrated resort and gaming hub that will compete with Las Vegas, Macau and Singapore.