The Manila Bay Casino was the first legal casino in the Philippine. It was established by the estate owned Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation PAGCOR during the Martial Law era under President Ferdinand Marcus. It was described as a floating casino and hosted on the MS Philippine Tourist. PAGCOR entered a contract with Philippine Casino Operators Corporation (PCOC) on July 5, 1977, for the operation of the floating Manila Bay Casino, done via a newly formed corporation: Manila Bay Enterprises Inc. (M.B.E.I.)

MBEI acted as a corporate operating partner for early PAGCOR provincial casinos. Different cities used local casino names (e.g. Cebu casino). PACGOR also partnered with private corporations to run early casinos. The chips carried the operator’s corporate initials (e.g. MBEI).

The initials and names on the chips were very important to identify the casino where the chip was used and time of issued.

Name on chips; See these on the chip scans:

Manila Bay Casino: Chips used the name or MBC

PCOC: These chips were also used at the Manila Bay Casino but appeared to be used very early during PACGOR/PCOC experimentation period.

CEBU Casino: These chips were used at an establishment in Center of Cebu Island and operated by MBEI. It was very short lived.