Philippines' Congress bans Steve Wynn

Las Vegas gambling mogul Steve Wynn is no longer allowed to set up a casino business in the Philippines.

This developed after members of a congressional committee in the House of Representatives felt Wynn had denigrated the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) by alleging in his lawsuit in the United States that some Pagcor officials received bribes from Mr, Kazuo Okada, a Japanese business tycoon, and Wynn's estranged partner in Pagcor Entertainment City project in Manila Bay.

In a statement released to the media by his representative Masahiro Terada, Okada said  that Wynn was supposed to be his business partner in the proposed Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation  (Pagcor) Entertainment City in the Philippines. Unfortunately, Wynn quit the joint venture in 2010. A leading daily said that Wynn has chosen to support his Wynn Entertainment Casino in Macau. While Okada has set his eyes on investing in the Philippine gaming industry, through Tiger Resorts.

Pagcor chair Cristino Naguiat, however,  explained that he has not been a part of Wynn's lawsuit against Okada. And that he has never been astray from the President Aquino's drive of cleaning up the government of graft and corruption. The lawsuit alleged that Naguiat received a total of US$110,000 in hotel accommodations, gifts and cash from Okada.

The Wynn's ban was approved by the House Committee upon the motion of Samar Rep. Ben Evardone and Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez during that public hearing, where Naguiat also denied accusations that he received bribes from Okada.

It was learned that Okada plans to build a US$ 2 billion casino on Manila Bay. If the project will push through, it will compete with Wynn's casino operations in Macau. It was not immediately known if the Manila Bay project was the reason why Wynn quit the Manila Bay project.

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