It takes six months to land, and we're looking for a new Philippine casino site

Landing International Development, an Asian casino promoter, said it had been given about six months to find an alternative site for the casino resort it had planned for in the Philippine capital of Manila, or it would risk a temporary gaming permit for the Philippines being revoked or suspended.

In a filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Friday, Landing International said it had declared a lease on the original allotted site (shown as a file photo) negotiated by Philippine authorities with a group called the Nayong Philippino Foundation.

Landing International has previously said it plans to build a $1.5 billion casino resort and theme park called Nayon Landing on the site in question. It was hoping to complete the project in 2022.

But on the day the plan broke ground in early August last year, President Rodrigo Duterte was found to have dismissed the entire board of directors of the Nayong Philippino Foundation for alleged irregularities related to the lease.

In September last year, a Cheong Wa Dae spokesman was quoted as saying that the land lease contract would be "cancelled" after it turned out to be "invalid from the start."

The group's wholly owned subsidiary, Landing Resorts Philippine Development Corp., received a letter dated March 15, 2018, stating that the lease was declared invalid by the government's corporate counseling office, the Philippine Justice Ministry and the president's office, respectively, according to a filing on Friday.

"Accordingly, the Group will follow up with the Nayong Filipino Foundation on the formal termination of the lease and the refund of money previously paid to the Nayong Filipino Foundation," Landing International said

The company added, "Given that the lease has been declared invalid, the Philippine Gaming and Gaming Company (Pagcor), a gaming and gambling regulatory and licensing body in the Philippines, has asked the Landing Philippines to submit a certificate of land ownership or lease under a temporary license within 180 days from September 10, 2019."

The filing states, "If Landing Philippines fails to comply with such provisions and cannot remedy the same within 90 days of receiving notice from Pagcor, the temporary license may be revoked or suspended.

"The group will work to find another site for the development of the integrated resort, and the company will further announce when and when it will be required in accordance with listing rules if there is an update on the project."

On Aug. 30, Landing International reported a net loss of nearly HK$835.6 million ($107 million) as gaming sales fell sharply in the first half of 2019.

The company reported a profit of HK$280.6 million in the first half of 2018. The company operates a foreigner-only casino resort Jeju Shinhwa World in Jeju Island, South Korea.

BY: 릴게임