South Korea’s first IR to open April 20

Thursday 9th of March 2017

Paradise Co. and Japan’s Sega Sammy will open South Korea’s first integrated resort on April 20th on a 330,000 m2 site in Incheon, near the international airport.

The KRW1.3 trillion ($1.1 billion) resort will open with a hotel, including 711 guest rooms, as well as convention halls and the country’s largest foreigner only casino.

The casino is equipped with 154 game tables, 281 slot machines and 4 electronic table games (62 seats).

The remaining facilities under the first phase, which will include commercial facilities and a premium spa are scheduled to be completed in 2018.

“Paradise City will deliver a best-ever resort experience to every visitor with highly sophisticated spaces integrating art and entertainment, and world-class hospitality,” Sega Sammy said in a release.

The resort will be opening at a time the country’s casino revenue is picking up after a 2015 slump triggered by an outbreak of Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome. Gaming revenue in the country excluding foreigner-only casinos rose 7.7 percent to KRW 20.3 trillion. Including sales from foreigner-only casinos, sales stood at KRW 20.5 trillion, surpassing the KRW 20 trillion mark for the first time.

However, clouds may be on the horizon due to rising political tensions and curbs on Chinese tourism to the country. The Chinese government has given verbal instruction to travel agencies to stop selling package products to Korea.

For February, Paradise reported a 13.5 percent increase in revenue year-on-year, but sales slipped from the prior month. Revenue was KRW 42.61 billion, boosted by table games, which recorded a 14.7 percent gain year-over-year and make up the bulk of the revenue at KRW 39.99 billion. Machine revenue dropped 1.4 percent from a year earlier.

However, the figures were all lower across the board from January, with overall casino revenue down 3.4 percent, table games down 2.7 percent and machines off by 12.8 percent.

The company also said its table game drop fell in February to KRW 380.25 billion from KRW 411.13 billion a year earlier.

Analysts have said they expect Paradise’s revenue to get a boost this year from the opening of the new resort, however they also warn that may come at the expense of other casinos, rather than overall market growth.

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