The last of Jeju’s eight casinos to reopen following a series of forced COVID-19 closures is operational again, representing the first time in three years that all casinos on the South Korean holiday island have been open at the same time.
Jeju Special Self-Governing Province announced that the last remaining holdout, Gongzi Jeju Casino – one of five casinos to remain closed for much of the past three years – opened on 1 January 2023.
The other four included Bloombery Resorts Corp’s Jeju Sun, which reopened on 1 October 2022, Jeju Oriental Hotel & Casino on 31 October, Yalanwan Casino on 1 December and MegaLuck Casino on 21 December.
Only Landing Casino at Jeju Shinhwa World and Paradise Casino remained open throughout, while Lotte Tour Development’s Dream Tower casino opened in June 2021 after relocating from its previous home at Lotte Hotel Jeju.
According to a report by News Jeju, the closure of Jeju’s casinos had seen the resources of the Jeju Tourism Promotion Fund, whose main source of revenue comes from casino payments, decrease significantly with payments falling from KRW47.5 billion (US$38.3 million) in 2019 to KRW15 billion (US$12.1 million) in 2020, then KRW4.8 billion (US$3.9 million) in 2021 and KRW3.6 billion (US$2.9 million) in 2022.
While the reopening of Korea’s international borders has seen the country’s foreigner-only casino industry mount a recovery in recent months, Jeju Special Self-Governing Province has stated it will strengthen the management and supervision of the island’s casinos to ensure they do not engage in any illegal activities to make up for a shortfall in revenues.
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