菲律賓悄悄挖澳門賭客牆角

“If [corrupt] officials gamble in Macau, they will be discovered,” warned Li Gang, mainland China’s representative to the world’s gambling capital. Such admonitions may be music to the ears of Philippine casino operators as they seek to lure regional high rollers to Manila’s ascendant gaming zone.

“內地加大了反腐的力度，一些腐敗官員，包括一些國有企業的領導，很多就不敢再到澳門去賭博。而且，由於澳門在博彩業方面也採取了一些管制措施，這些官員如果到澳門賭博會被發現，”中國中央政府駐澳門聯絡辦公室主任李剛稱。這樣的警告在菲律賓賭場運營商耳中可能像音樂一樣動聽，他們正尋求吸引亞洲地區的豪賭客光顧馬尼拉正在發展中的賭博區。

Macapagal Boulevard may not yet have the cachet of the Las Vegas Strip. But the area centred on Entertainment City — an 8 sq km gambling district established on reclaimed land on Manila Bay — has robust ambitions to become one of Asia’s top gaming and entertainment centres, according to Asean Confidential, a research service at the Financial Times.

馬卡帕加爾大道(Macapagal Boulevard)可能尚未達到拉斯維加斯大道(Las Vegas Strip)的名氣。但是，據英國《金融時報》旗下研究機構《東盟投資參考》(Asean Confidential)介紹，以娛樂城(Entertainment City)——建在馬尼拉灣(Manila Bay)填海土地上的8平方公里的賭博區——爲中心的地區，擁有打造亞洲頂級博彩及娛樂中心的雄心壯志。

Its star attraction is the $1bn City of Dreams complex, owned by Melco Crown Entertainment and local conglomerate SM Group, which opened its doors in January. Next door is the $1.2bn Solaire, a bustling complex owned by Bloomberry Resorts. Nearby, next to Manila airport stands Resorts World Manila, run by Travellers International.

在這裏，具有明星般吸引力的是造價10億美元的新濠天地(City of Dreams)綜合娛樂度假村。該大樓於今年1月開始營業，其所有者爲新濠博亞娛樂公司(Melco Crown Entertainment)和菲律賓綜合企業SM集團(SM Group)。隔壁是耗資12億美元的晨麗(Solaire)娛樂場及渡假城，其東家是Bloomberry Resorts。在不遠處，馬尼拉機場旁邊坐落着由Travellers International運營的馬尼拉雲頂世界(Resorts World Manila)。

The scale of these facilities is impressive. City of Dreams alone has six hotel towers, 380 gaming tables, 1,700 slot machines and 1,700 electronic table games.

這些場所的規模令人印象深刻。僅新濠天地一家就有6棟酒店大樓、380張賭桌、1700臺老虎機以及1700張電子賭桌。

Nevertheless, this is just a start. In the next few years, a second Resorts World facility — a partnership between Genting Hong Kong and local conglomerate Alliance Global — is expected to open in Entertainment City, along with a massive new casino by Universal Entertainment, in partnership with Tiger Resort Leisure and Entertainment.

儘管如此，這還僅僅是開始。在接下來的幾年，第二家名勝世界(Resorts World)設施——雲頂香港(Genting Hong Kong)和菲律賓綜合企業Alliance Global的合作項目——預計將在娛樂城開業，還有環球娛樂(Universal Entertainment)與老虎娛樂度假村(Tiger Resort Leisure and Entertainment)聯手打造的另一家大型新賭場。

The outlook for such investments depends to a significant extent on how the chips fall in Macau. Lately, the former Portuguese enclave has been on a losing streak, with revenues slumping for the tenth consecutive month in March (see chart). Several high-profile official corruption exposes have included lurid details of gambling trips to Macau, fostering suspicions that the casinos are monitored by Chinese secret police.

此類投資項目的前景在很大程度上取決於澳門的形勢會如何演變。近來，這塊前葡萄牙殖民地經歷了連輸——3月博彩業收入連續第10個月下滑（見圖表）。一些備受矚目的官員腐敗事件報道包含了其赴澳門賭博的讓人大開眼界的細節，助長了人們對中國祕密警察監視賭場的懷疑。

The Manila casino operators are not bashful about targeting Macau’s high-rollers. Melco has ties to the Macau junkets, the businesses that connect wealthy punters to casinos, and is actively seeking to lure business over the South China Sea. Another Macau junket operator, SunCity Group, has also said it is planning to expand its VIP room presence in Solaire and City of Dreams.

馬尼拉賭場運營商對於吸引澳門豪賭客並不感到難爲情。新濠與澳門博彩中介（在富裕賭徒和賭場之間牽線搭橋的公司）有關係，並且正在積極尋求把生意吸引到南中國海的另一端。另一家澳門博彩中介公司SunCity Group也表示，正計劃擴大其在晨麗和新濠天地的貴賓室。

But how realistic are Manila’s long-term goals? Casino revenue growth in 2014 showed promise, rising 16 per cent to $2.5bn, according to the local gaming regulator and casino operator, Pagcor. VIP revenue was up 50 per cent, signifying the growing pull of Macapagal Boulevard to high rollers. Pagcor hopes total casino revenues will rise to $7bn by 2020, by which time the two planned casinos are expected to have opened.

但是，馬尼拉的長期目標有多現實？據當地博彩業監管機構及賭場運營商——菲律賓娛樂和博彩公司(Pagcor)稱，2014年賭場收入增長呈現希望——同比增長16%，至25億美元。豪賭客收入增長50%，突顯馬卡帕加爾大道對這些人的吸引力不斷增加。Pagcor希望，到2020年，博彩業總收入將達到70億美元，屆時上述2家規劃中的賭場將已經開業。

Other estimates are more modest. Macquarie Research sees Manila’s gambling revenues rising by an average 20 per cent a year over the next three years to hit $4.8bn in 2018.

其他增幅預測相對較小。麥格理研究(Macquarie Research)預計，未來3年，馬尼拉博彩業收入將以平均每年20%的速度增長，到2018年將達到48億美元。

Indeed, much is unpredictable. A flare-up between the Philippine and Chinese navies in 2012 over a territorial dispute in the South China Sea spilled over into trade and tourism, with Chinese travel agencies suspending tours. Tourism has recovered somewhat since then, but the political relationship remains tense.

的確，很多情況難以預料。2012年菲律賓海軍與中國海軍在南中國海因領土爭端發生對峙，影響了貿易和旅遊業，中國旅行社暫停向菲律賓發團。自那以後，旅遊業有所恢復，但是政治關係仍然緊張。