The Japanese billionaire Kazuo Okado, owner and chairman of Universal Entertainment has been embroiled in controversy involving an ongoing case of suing and being sued by Steve Wynn’s Wynn Resorts company.
This case has its beginnings in the fact that Steve Wynn is alleged to have tried to remove Kazuo Okado as a director of Wynn Resorts some years ago.
The reason is said to have been linked to Okado’s plan to construct an integrated casino resort in the Philippines’ Entertainment City which Wynn claimed would compete directly with his own company’s casino complex also in Entertainment City.
Things became more complex with accusations of bribery involving an official of the Philippine Amusement Gaming Corporation.
Both sides accuse the other of being involved in corrupt practices involving their projects in Entertainment City.Kazuo Okado’s investment in Entertainment City just outside of Manila is worth 2 billion dollars and even though the Philippine government’s Department of Justice and National Bureau of Investigation threatened at the time to file criminal charges against Okado’s Universal Entertainment, he decided to continue construction of the Manila Bay Resorts casino and hotel complex.
While not enough evidence was found against him in the bribery case Okado is still being pursued by the Philippine authorities in a case of dummy corporations said to have been created by Universal Entertainment.
A complex web of so called “dummy” companies is alleged to have created around the development of Universal Entertainment’s involvement in entertainment City.
Two years ago there was concern that Universal entertainment would have its gaming licence suspended but this didn’t happen at that time.
However this situation has come up again now and the company’s licence is once more being considered for suspension according to a statement by the Philippine Amusement Gaming Corporation’s vice president.
This would continue until all the cases against Kazuo Okado in the Philippines are dealt with.
The Manila Bay Resorts complex is on time in its construction schedule but it remains to be seen whether the government will stop construction and /or suspend the company’s gaming licence.
