The Philippine gaming circle is once again stirring. According to multiple sources, the Hong Kong-listed company Century Entertainment has teamed up with former congressman Mike Defensor to officially obtain a legal gaming license from PAGCOR, planning to build a closed gaming industrial park in Jia Mi Di, intending to create a "new generation legal special zone".
The project is clearly positioned—centralized management, closed operations, targeting traditional gaming centers such as Pasay and Makati, attempting to reshape the industry landscape. As soon as the news was released, there was an uproar in the industry, and many people began to be alert: Will Jia Mi Di become the new gaming headquarters?
Why has Jia Mi Di become the chosen location? Compared to the Manila urban area, it has a clear "cost depression" advantage, with low land prices and controllable development costs, plus it is within an hour's drive from Manila, which provides convenient conditions for labor and logistics. The large amount of idle factories and parks left after the withdrawal of the gaming industry also provides a ready-made basis for the so-called "closed management" model.
The regulatory layer hopes to achieve risk control through centralized management, while the capital side sees the dual benefits of reducing operating costs and policy uncertainty. It seems like an official endorsement and Hong Kong capital's entry as a "whitewashing restart", but it actually hides hidden worries.
After the rectification storm in 2024, the Philippine gaming industry was severely damaged, with foreign labor repatriation, license freezing, and high-pressure tax audits still ongoing. At this time, pushing the "compliant park" plan, is it just a well-packaged "shell change"? There is no conclusion yet.
A more realistic problem is that—public opinion has turned tough, with kidnappings, extortion, and violent conflicts caused by gambling occurring frequently, causing the local residents' tolerance for the industry to continue to decline. At the same time, the arrival of "Hong Kong capital" is questioned by many as another round of the "harvesting game": short-term arbitrage, leaving a mess, and leaving the scene are not unfamiliar patterns.
This seemingly glamorous "legalization attempt", is it an opportunity for industrial upgrading, or another gamble remake? The industry's attitude is complex, and many see it as a meticulously organized "legal resurgence"—old wine in new bottles, changing the shell for another round.
No one expects the golden period of 2018 to reappear. Today's Jia Mi Di is more like a model destined to be tested, either to achieve a true special zone model or to become the next "industry lesson" to be liquidated. What the outcome will be, depends on who can last till the end.
