Baguio City – A plan to establish a gaming complex in the Camp John Hay (CJH) special economic zone here has revived a multi-sectoral opposition to all forms of gambling in the city. This developed as the city council here voted to disapprove the plan to set up a casino in CJH. In disapproving the plan, the councilors said their action is consistent with the city’s anti-gambling policy that has been enforced for many years now.

The casino war here may have been won by the city government, which had opposed its operation. However, Cheryl Ann Ruiz Arnold, corporate communications officer of Thunderbird Resorts, said 60 percent of customers of their casino in nearby San Fernando City in La Union come from Baguio. The casino attracts from 1,000 to 2,000 patrons daily, said Arnold. Thunderbird is the same company that wanted to open a casino in Baguio five years ago but the thunder against it was stronger here.