International Entertainment Corporation will switch on its own online gaming platform for LaVie Resort & Casino Manila in mid or late November, taking full control of a business it first entered alongside an outside partner.
The Hong Kong listed company, which trades under stock code 01009, said in a stock exchange filing on its Phase Two online gaming business on Friday evening that the platform will carry the LaVie Resort & Casino Manila name and will be open only to legally eligible registered players in the Philippines. Where the first phase was run together with other Philippine online operators, the second will be run by IEC alone. The group will own and control the software, games, technology and platform, and will also run staffing, KYC, AML checks and customer support itself. The board called the launch “an important milestone” for the group.
Live tables streamed from the Malate property
The centrepiece is remote play on physical equipment. Live dealer tables offering Commission Baccarat, Super 6 Baccarat and Tiger Baccarat will sit in a PAGCOR approved designated area inside the resort, with players joining online. Slot machines in the same area can also be played remotely, with outcomes produced by a certified random number generator. A third strand covers software based electronic games hosted on the platform, although IEC said electronic bingo, online poker and specialty games have not started commercially yet. Games will be certified by GLI or another lab recognised by the regulator where applicable.
Subsidiary New Coast Leisure Inc (NCLI), co-licensee of the casino’s provisional licence alongside Marina Square Properties, is the licensed operator and will be responsible for bookmaking. Its online approvals include an eCasino gaming venue licence, Gaming System Administrator accreditations for electronic casino games, electronic bingo, online poker and specialty games, and a game content provider accreditation. NCLI has already paid PAGCOR the performance cash deposit needed before operations start. The filing puts that deposit at PHP25 million for a single game offering and PHP50 million for two or more.
Layered geo-blocking and regulatory costs
PAGCOR’s remote gaming framework for integrated resorts bars such platforms from taking bets placed outside the Philippines or being reachable from foreign IP addresses. IEC said player traffic passes through a content delivery network and a firewall that reject non-Philippine IP addresses, while Cloudflare tools are used to spot VPN connections and to block proxies, botnets and malware sources. According to the company, tests with several commercial and free VPN services all failed to get through.
On top of PAGCOR’s share of gross gaming revenue, which varies by game type, NCLI will pay an audit fee worth 10% of that share, a monthly foundation contribution equal to 1% of GGR from electronic games, and a 5% franchise tax. Deloitte Advisory (Hong Kong) was hired to review the internal controls for the new operation.
From partnership to in-house
IEC’s first move online came through a partnership with DigiPlus, and in August the company set a September target for that Phase One launch. According to AsGam, the new step makes LaVie one of only two Philippine land-based casinos building an online arm internally, the other being Solaire, while Newport World Resorts, Okada Manila, Hann Casino Resort and NUSTAR Resort Cebu went online with platform provider PhilWeb. Solaire owner Bloomberry widened its own digital range earlier this month with the OnlyFun.PH launch.
The platform is still being integrated and remains subject to final testing before commercial launch, IEC said. The group also intends to explore collaboration with other market participants in the Philippines.
