Star Cruises and Alliance Global Group signed this week an agreement to build hotels and casinos in the Philippines. The companies will invest approximately $1 billion on several projects to increase their presence in the Asian continent and the profitable gaming market.

A spokesperson for Star Cruises said that, as part of the contract, the company will purchase a unit of Alliance named Travelers International Hotel Group Inc. This unit is about to obtain a gaming license to develop hotels and gambling complexes in the Philippines’ Newport City, near Manila’s airport.

In an attempt to increase the number of tourists that visit the country, Tahiland’s government has announced the construction of the first five legal casinos. Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej said in a statement that last year 13 million tourists chose Thailand as their holiday destination.

“Thai citizens who wish to gamble will be able to do so and in this way the Police will focus on other matters instead of fighting against illegal gambling,” Samak explained. The Prime Minister also said that all the money collected as entrance fees would be given to different charities that work in the country.

The Castellón province in Spain is preparing for the opening of what will be the first gambling venue in the province located east of the Iberian Peninsula. The casino will be open in April and although it will target the regional public during its first stage, its authorities expect that the casino will increase the tourism influx to the zone, specially cruises, due to the proximity of the region with the Mediterranean Sea.

The casino will have a total surface of 4.000 square meters and half of it will be destined to gambling.

This week, a spokesperson for the Sociedade de Jogos de Macau announced the company, together with Macau Success, would inaugurate a new casino in the former Portuguese colony on 1 February. The gambling venue, called Puente 16, will be the nineteenth casino owned by Asian tycoon Stanley Ho.

The complex will be located in Puerto Interior, and will have 107 gaming tables and about 300 slot machines. Besides, Puente 16 will offer to its visitors several shopping malls, restaurants, bars, a convention center, exhibition stands and entertainment zones.

Sands Corp. recently announced that after many efforts and in spite of the limited credit market, it obtained several loans for more than $3.7 billion for the construction of the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore. The casino is part of the company’s project to gain ground in Asia.

President and Chief Operating Officer of Sands William Weidner explained that the loans were possible thanks to the background provided by the strong Singaporean economy.

The inhabitants of Christmas Island said this week that no matter who wins the Australian federal election, they want the new authorities to reopen the local casino so as to boost the island’s decaying economy. The casino closed in 1998 and six years later, in 2004, the Federal Government stopped an application to reopen it.

During the 90’s decade, Christmas Island enjoyed an economic boom and lots of gamblers from Indonesia flew to the territory.

With the objective of surviving in the highly competitive world of gambling, Macao casinos have launched a new strategy in order to widen and diversify the public that gambles in the island: they want to attract VIP players from all over the world.

In May this year, Macao opened its first six-star casino, named Macao Crown, which represents the 26th casino opened in the island and is specially designed to attract a big number of VIP players.

After the big fire that affected the Resort and Casino of Lago de Pucón in Chile, the local municipality suffers the consequences, since it is estimated that the losses will rise up to 400 thousand dollars because the casino will not be able to operate for at least 3 months.

The blaze has had a strong financial and touristy impact since tourists visit Pucón not only for its attractive lifestyle and natural resources, but also because they want to gamble at the casino.

This week, it was announced that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is studying the possibility of building a gambling complex in Eilat, a city located in the south of the country. With that purpose, the Minister has organized a committee, headed by the treasury’s director general, Yarom Ariav, which will study and decide if the project is viable.

The commission includes members of the police and the Justice, Interior, Tourism and Welfare Ministries who, in case of approving a casino, will also consider whether the gambling resort should be operated by a private company or the state.

The projects of the Prelada group are based on associating the new casinos to hotels and tourist complexes, since its board considers that “the concept of the traditional casino is fading as a concept” and that it is time to “explore global entertainment strategies, with a wider gaming offer”.

Based on this view, the group has invested 8.5 million euros to open their first casino in Argentina: casino Melincué, located in the southern Argentinean province of Santa Fe.