Solaire Resort: Casino Entry and Rules

What it is

Solaire Resort is a large integrated resort in Entertainment City, the casino and hotel strip on Manila Bay. It opened on March 16, 2013, as a $1 billion project, and it was the first integrated resort to open in the Entertainment City zone⁵. The property combines a casino with hotel stays, restaurants, a spa, a nightclub and a theater, so it works as a full resort rather than a standalone gaming hall⁵.

The casino floor is the center of the property. When it opened, it had 295 gaming tables and 1,200 slot machines⁵. The table lineup included baccarat, blackjack, casino war, craps, money wheel, pontoon and roulette, and the slot floor ran to 1,200 machines³. Those opening figures give you a sense of scale: this is one of the bigger gaming floors in the Philippines, not a boutique room.

If you are planning a Manila casino trip, Solaire sits alongside the other Entertainment City properties, and you can compare the whole strip on our Entertainment City Manila casinos page. If you are weighing Solaire against its neighbor, we have a direct Okada Manila vs Solaire comparison.

Licenses and regulator

Solaire operates under a license from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation, known as PAGCOR, the government body that regulates casinos in the Philippines⁴. That license covers the land-based resort, and the same corporate group holds separate PAGCOR registrations for its online and electronic gaming operations.

The online side is worth understanding because it is easy to confuse with the physical casino. Solaire Online is operated by Bloomberry Resorts and Hotels Inc., the company behind the land-based Solaire Resort and Casino, and it is licensed by PAGCOR⁴. It offers live baccarat, slots, electronic table games and virtual games, and it runs at its own address rather than through the resort's main site⁴.

Bloomberry also holds PAGCOR accreditation for electronic casino games, sports betting, specialty games, traditional bingo and electronic bingo⁶. One of its registered domains is pesomaxfun.com, and its registered online casino domain is the Solaire Online address⁶. Specialty games are listed on the register as yet to commence commercial operations, so do not expect them to be live if you go looking⁸.

The practical takeaway: if you are playing at Solaire, you are playing under a PAGCOR license, whether you are standing on the casino floor in Entertainment City or logged into the licensed online platform. For how Philippine casino rules work more broadly, see our Philippines gambling guide.

Where it accepts players

Solaire accepts players from essentially everywhere, with one important exception: people on its banned persons list. The resort states plainly that banned persons are not allowed to enter, stay or play in the casino gaming area². The same rule is repeated on the resort's Chinese-language responsible gaming page⁹.

The consequence of being on that list is not just being turned away at the door. Any winnings a banned person accumulates are forfeited². So if you are on the list and somehow get onto the floor, you cannot keep what you win.

The rule travels across the Solaire brand. At Solaire Resort in Quezon City, the resort states that anyone explicitly banned from entry must not enter, stay or take part in any activity in the casino gaming areas, and that strict measures will be taken against violators¹⁰. In practice, this means the banned persons policy is enforced at both properties, not just the Manila Bay one.

For everyone else, entry is straightforward. There is no nationality restriction at Solaire, which matters because some Asian jurisdictions do restrict their own citizens. South Korea is the clearest example: Kangwon Land is the only casino in the country that lets both domestic nationals and foreigners play, under a special law¹¹. The Philippines has no equivalent restriction, so a Filipino can walk into Solaire on the same terms as a tourist.

The legal position by country

The rules that apply to you depend on where you are from and where you are playing, not just on where the casino is.

If you are in the Philippines: Solaire is a licensed, legal casino. Citizens, foreign residents and visitors aged 21 and over can enter and play. There is no domestic-player ban like South Korea's.

If you are a Philippine citizen or resident playing online: the licensed route is a PAGCOR-registered platform such as Solaire Online⁴. Playing on an unlicensed offshore site is a different matter, and the legal risk sits with the player, not the operator.

If you are outside the Philippines: the legality of gambling depends on your own jurisdiction. Offshore casinos may be licensed and lawful where they are based, but your country may restrict online gambling, and that restriction applies to you wherever the server sits¹². This is the general principle that catches traveling players: a casino being legal in Manila does not make your play legal in a jurisdiction that bans it.

If you are a visitor from a country that restricts its nationals: check your own rules before you play. Some jurisdictions restrict their citizens even when they are abroad, and enforcement varies.

The safe pattern for a visitor is simple.

1. Play in a licensed venue in a jurisdiction where casino gambling is legal.
2. Play at or above the local minimum age.
3. Do not assume that an offshore website is fine just because it accepts your deposit.

Games and payments

The casino floor at Solaire is built around table games and slots. The opening lineup covered baccarat, blackjack, casino war, craps, money wheel, pontoon and roulette on the tables, plus 1,200 slot machines³. Baccarat is the anchor game in most Asian casinos, and if you want to understand it before you sit down, our baccarat rules guide walks through punto banco and the third-card rule.

Beyond the classics, the resort describes its offering as gaming, dining and entertainment, and the Quezon City property advertises gaming that includes the classics and the hottest new games, live jackpots and Solaire Online live gaming¹². Electronic table games are part of the mix, and if you have not played them before, our electronic table games page explains how stadium-style terminals work.

On the online side, Solaire Online offers live baccarat, slots, electronic table games and virtual games⁴. That is a narrower menu than the physical floor, and it is a separate product with its own registration.

Minimum age: 21

On payments, the practical detail is the same as at any large Asian casino: you buy chips at the tables or at the casino cage, and you cash out at the cage. If you want the mechanics spelled out, including currency handling and chip rules, see our casino chips and cashier guide. Table minimums vary by pit and by time of day, and our casino table limits page covers how minimums work across the region.

Ownership and history

Solaire is owned and operated by Bloomberry Resorts Corporation through its subsidiaries¹³. The company describes Solaire Resort & Casino as the first integrated resort at Entertainment City, which matches the opening timeline: the resort opened on March 16, 2013⁵.

The property was announced well before it opened. In October 2012, the project was described as a world-class casino with 15 restaurants in its first phase, and the opening was set for March 2013³. By the time it opened, the resort had eight restaurants, a spa, a nightclub and a 1,800-seat Broadway-type theater⁵. The restaurant count changed between the plan and the opening, which is normal for a project of this size.

If you are comparing the two Solaire properties with the rest of the region, our Asia casino destinations compared page puts Manila, Macau, Singapore and Genting side by side. For the wider picture of who can enter which Asian casino and under what conditions, start with casinos and integrated resorts in Asia.