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   By Cris Larano 
 

MANILA--Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd. (MPEL) has raised its planned investment in casino-resort City of Dreams Manila to $680 million, Chief Executive Lawrence Ho said Monday, and he said the figure could rise further as the NASDAQ-listed gaming group seeks other brands to broaden the appeal of the Philippines as a leisure destination in Asia.

"It keeps going up. Our most recent number is $680 million because PAGCOR will allow us more (gaming) tables...and we keep finding great brands," Mr. Ho told reporters after launching the second hotel brand in the City of Dreams Manila. PAGCOR refers to the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., the government agency that regulates casino operations in the country.

City of Dreams Manila will open mid-2014 and is part of the government's Entertainment City in the reclamation area on Manila Bay, which was modeled after the Las Vegas gaming strip. City of Dreams Manila will open with 365 gaming tables, 1,680 slot machines and 1,680 electronic table games.

Melco Crown last year teamed up with Filipino billionaire Henry Sy over the City of Dreams project, with both parties pledging $500 million each in order to meet the government's $1 billion minimum investment. In October, the company raised its planned investment amount to $650 million after clinching a deal to open a Crown Hotel in the City of Dreams Manila.

The second hotel brand will be Nobu Hotel, the U.S. hospitality company whose investors include movie star Robert De Niro. The movie star was on hand to launch the hotel in Manila, the first in Asia.

The partnership with Nobu "is a further step in realizing our overall vision to deliver world-class and diverse innovative lifestyle and entertainment...to broaden the appeal of the Philippines as a leading leisure destination in Asia," Mr. Ho said.

Mr. Ho said Melco Crown will employ around 5,500 workers, many of them Filipinos.

PAGCOR expects five integrated casino resorts to operate at Entertainment City by 2016, each investing at least $1 billion and drawing more tourists to the country. PAGCOR expects the project to generate around 1 million jobs. The first of the integrated resort casinos, Solaire Manila, started operations in March last year.

Melco Crown is undertaking the investment through its locally-listed unit, Melco Crown (Philippines) Resorts Corp. (MCP.PH).

Write to Cris Larano at cris.larano@dowjones.com

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