The Philippines-based resort will now promote itself through the “Okada Manila Go” initiative launched to coincide with surging financial performance across the group. Universal Entertainment Corp, the company that owns Okada Manila, saw H1 2023 sales go up by 40.8% to $548 million.

Okada Manila Beckons to Local and International Players

Okada Manila itself hit a 68% increase in sales, reaching $331 million and adjusted EBITDA of $104 million, up 96.2%. This is much better than the results reported at the end of 2022. Okada Manila is not just banking on its casino to bring in crowds, however. The resort is also seeking its food and beverage business pick up with its restaurants proving to be particularly popular in the Philippines and pulling in crowds.

The Okada Manila Go campaign, though, is more geographically focused as it will seek to first incentivize local audiences and focus on gaming, promising members various prizes such as round-trip tickets to Manila, bus tickets, free hotel stays, and more. Commenting on this opportunity, the company said in a press statement that the campaign wants to also raise awareness for the resort beyond its own borders.

This campaign is currently only in the Philippines but is expected to be expanded to include gaming members in other countries too. To bring in more foreign tourists, we will also increase marketing activities in several Asian countries.

Okada Manila is seeking to strengthen its landscape on the one hand while also outlining plans for further digital growth on the other. PIGO, Okada Manila’s online gambling offering, will also be growing over the next years, with the company seeking to grow in this vertical as well.

Growing Beyond the Land-Based Sector

“These activities are steadily increasing gaming demand in areas of the Philippines other than Luzon Island, where Manila is located,” Okada Manila said in a statement. The next steps towards securing stronger business performance will equally focus on expanding the available online casino games.

Okada Manila is not the only business that is interested in exploring online gambling, on top of strengthening its land-based performance. The Philippines as a whole has suggested that it will seek to host a national online casino, Casino Filipino, that will be licensed to operate globally, in what is a first move for a country worldwide.

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In 2022, Japanese Pachinko billionaire and former Steve Wynn associate, then nemesis, Kazuo Okada staged a boardroom raid on his “former” property in the Philippines, Okada Manila. Now a trial court has ordered his arrest on charges of pilfering money from the massive casino complex’s coffers during the time of forced control of the property.

Arrest warrants were issued for Okada along with a dozen other associates of his including most notably Antonio “Tonyboy” Cojuangc and, Dindo Espeleta for the crime of “qualified theft” according to reports out of Asia.

Regional Trial Court Judge Issued Warrants

Presiding Judge Hon. Regina Paz A. Ramos-Chavez of the Regional Trial Court Branch 274 issued the arrest warrants.

According to reports in Asian gaming media, “Qualified Theft” falls under provisions of Article 310 of the Revised Penal Code of the Philippines, and involves theft in cases of “grave abuse of confidence” and it carries harsher penalties than some other type of theft.

Art. 310. Qualified theft. – The crime of qualified theft shall be punished by the penalties next higher by two degrees than those respectively specified in the next preceding article.

An article from Inside Asia Gaming purports to have received confirmation and more details from Okada Manila representatives that indicate the theft could have been circa Php500 million – a little over US$9m and that the alleged theft involved simply siphoning money from the casino cashier cage.

Motions to suspend or delay the proceedings that led to the issuance of warrants were reportedly denied by the judge even though the accused may have been appealing the decision with the Secretary of the Department of Justice as such an appeal does not hold proceeding in abeyance based on the judge’s interpretation of the country’s National Prosecution Service Rule on Appeal.

Judge Ramos-Chavez determined there was probable cause to issue warrants for all of those accused in the matter stating: “The counter-allegations of the accused, being evidentiary in nature, are best threshed out in a full-blown trial.”

Early last year the Supreme Court of the Philippines issued an order of Status Que Ante Order (SQAO) which, in effect instructed then-current board members to temporarily restore the Tiger Resorts, Leisure and Entertainment Inc (TRLEI) operators board to its status prior to the removal of Okada from the board in 2017.

While the matter was still being considered for litigation and no direct order to relinquish control by a date certain was issued, that was enough for Okada’s associates to mount a raid on the offices and forcibly retake the property on May 31, 2022. About 50 invaders took over the resort including private security guards and some local police officers.

DOJ Ruled Okada Had No Right to Take Forcible Control of Casino

The Department of Justice ruled about three months later that the SQAO was not an imminent order to, nor give Okada the right to retake and control the property by force, and by early September 2022, the ousted board took its chairs again.

Along the way, Okada and others were indicted for “grave coercion” for bodily removing the existing board and indictments were issued. However, potential kidnapping charges were dismissed. Okada flew to the Philippines and turned himself over to authorities when the indictment was issued. He was released on bail the same day. The group pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The TRAL-backed board accused Kazuo Okada’s representatives in July 2022 of pilfering funds from the cashier cage in response to its assets being frozen, according to some reports.

Source: Philippines Court orders arrest of Kazuo Okada, Tonyboy Cojuangco, Dindo Espeleta and associates for qualified theft, Inside Asia Gaming, July 12, 2023

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The male victim of the abduction was released with the incident taking place at Okada Manila where he was being held hostage. The perpetrators were aged between 24 and 36 according to local media reports.

Okada Manila Becomes Scene of Abduction

Upon investigating, police found out that the abductors had forced the man into the room because he was unable to repay a PHP500,000 ($9,000) debt. Police were tipped off by the resort. The victim was able to inform a guard about his situation while the abductors were moving him, prompting Okada Manila’s security team to interfere swiftly.

Commenting on the incident as cited by Inquirer, a local media outlet, National Capital Region Police Office chief major general Edgar Allan Okubo said that such crime would not be tolerated and that the police were prepared to act.

“We will work diligently to respond in such similar reports of illegal detention to be able to rescue other possible victims among foreign nationals,” Okubo explained.

The abduction highlights the ongoing problem that many lawmakers, officials and even Chinese diplomats ascribe to the lawless market of Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators. The industry has reportedly produced the most gambling-related crime, and many have called for it to be shuttered completely.

Among those complaining have been Chinese diplomats who see the industry as harmful to the country’s citizens with many abduction cases reported to originate in the POGOs operations in the Philippines. PAGCOR chairman and CEO Alejandro Tengco has warned that should these incidents continue, the regulator would not hesitate to suspend the licenses of POGOs and implement broader measures that could affect the industry in its entirety.

POGOs have been a thorn in the side of the new PAGCOR chair who is keen to be seen as a hardliner on crime. Yet, POGOs generate a fair bit of revenue that is injected into the public purse. Without them, it’s not immediately clear how the state would make for the short in revenue.

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