Manila opened its doors to online casinos in 2016. The industry now powers the city's real estate sector and employs close to half a million people, many of them Chinese. (Photo by Kimberly dela Cruz)

Tensions flare around Manila's lucrative online casinos

Duterte holds out on a crackdown, but relations with Beijing -- and locals -- grow strained

CLIFF VENZON, Nikkei staff writer

October 9, 2019 15:15 JST

MANILA -- Business along Quirino Avenue near Manila's airport had been in a period of long decline, until it began a sudden resurgence over the last year. Restaurants, spas and apartments have opened. Locals were hired as security guards, drivers and housekeepers, all catering to the area's new clientele: Chinese migrants.