Gaming alert | Mohegan Sun heats up S Korea casino competition with USD5b proposal

The operator of the U.S. Mohegan Sun casino has partnered with South Korea’s largest airport in a proposal for a USD5 billion casino resort, putting its hat in the ring for one of two gaming licenses set to be decided on this year, Reuters reported yesterday.
South Korea has become one of Asia’s fastest growing casino markets with gaming companies lured by a 42 percent jump in the number of Chinese tourists to a record 6 million last year.
According to the agency dispatch, the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority and Incheon International Airport said their proposed resort would be developed on the grounds of the gateway airport to Seoul, which serves more than 45 million visitors annually.
Mohegan Sun would spend about $1.6 billion on the first stage of the resort by 2020. The resort, due to be completed in 2040, would include a foreigners-only casino with 250 gaming tables, a 1,000-room hotel, an arena for up to 20,000 people and an amusement park, the companies said, cited by Reuters.
The South Korea government has said it will decide on “around two” new gaming licenses by the end of this year. The new casinos would be aimed at catering to foreign visitors as Seoul bars locals from entering all but one of its 17 casinos and has no plans to change its policy.
Also competing for a license are Hong Kong’s Chow Tai Fook Enterprises Ltd with a proposal for a $2.6 billion resort, which would be near Incheon airport too, and Philippines’ Bloomberry Resorts Corp which has plans to invest $1 billion in a casino complex.
Bloomberry, which has not said where the new casino would be, has bought an island off the coast of Incheon and bought an existing casino in Jeju Island. If it decides to build the integrated casino resort in Jeju it would not need a new license.
Most of South Korea’s current casinos are tiny by the standards of Macau or Las Vegas. Casino resorts include one being built by South Korea’s Paradise Co Ltd and Japan’s Sega Sammy Holdings Inc and another under construction by Caesars Entertainment Corp and Lippo Ltd. Both will also be near the airport.