The billion dollar City Of Dreams Manila opened to much fanfare at Pagcor Entertainment City on February 2nd. Among the elite to attend the grand opening celebration were Lawrence Ho and James Packer, co-chairs of Melco Crown, the Macau casino giant behind City Of Dreams in partnership with the SM group.

Although the casino had a soft opening drawing more than 50,000 visitors in mid-December, this was the gala event to mark the official opening of the resort complex that includes an indoor amusement park, nearly a quarter million square feet (2 Hectare) of gaming space, three world-class hotels featuring more than 900 rooms (Crown, Hyatt and Nobu) along with retail, restaurant, and entertainment space equaling the casino floor space.

The resort seems to be focused toward attracting a younger more fun-seeking crowd domestically, rather than competing with the more serious gambling properties in Macau, while still providing upscale amenities and plenty of opportunity to chance the fates on more than 500 gaming tables and over 3,000 gaming machines.

The grand opening featured pyrotechnics and flashing strobe lights illuminating the Manila skyline as well as concerts by Kelly Rowland and Ne-Yo and local entertainers Gary Valenciano, Kyla, Jed Madela, and ZsaZsa Padilla.

Photo Credit: www.cityofdreams.com.ph/