Inside Asian Gaming

inside asian gaming April 2015 22 Cover Story The Korean government first resolved to address this shortfall back in 2011 with plans to approve the development of a number of integrated resorts with foreigner-only casinos. The first project to get the go-ahead was a joint venture between the country’s leading foreigner-only casino operator, Paradise Group, and Japanese gaming machine manufacturer Sega Sammy Holdings. The resort, dubbed Paradise City, is located in a special economic development zone on Yeongjong island, the site of Incheon International Airport, themain gateway for foreign arrivals, located about 30 kilometers from Seoul. Groundbreaking took place in November with an anticipated 2017 opening at an initial cost of US$750 million. Korea’s foreigner-only casino market will remain constrained ahead of the new integrated resorts coming online from 2017 onwards. Even then, skeptics such as Seoul-based gaming analyst The reason an average table yields so much more in Macau than in Korea is the two markets don’t offer comparable products. Over the past decade, lavishly appointed resorts unveiled in Macau, Singapore and, most recently, the Philippines, have drastically altered regional gamblers’ expectations of a casino experience. Capitalizing on Hallyu Paradise Group is confident its upcoming Paradise City resort will stand out among the crowd that follows. “Paradise will differentiate from new foreign players with ‘Korean- ness,’” says Paradise Group Chairman and CEO Philip Chun, who’s expecting to leverage hallyu , the Korean pop culture trend sweeping Asia. “The main content Paradise will be showing to our guests is Korean culture such as K-pop and other entertainment content.” “The Birth of Korean Cool,” a recently published book on the rise of Korean pop culture, explores the economic value of exporting the Korean dream. It points out that hallyu is driving sales of Korean fridges, computers, TVs and cars. It’s also encouraging tourism. The value of hallyu to Korea has even been quantified. In 2012, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism estimated the asset value of hallyu at US$83.2 billion, just as the government embarked on its mission to promote the development of integrated resorts to drive tourism. The culture ministry is now charged with managing that process. Korea appears unable to fully capitalize on the boom in Chinese visitors with its existing casino product. Foreigner-only casino revenue was essentially flat in 2014, even though the country’s tourism receipts rose 24.4% year on year to U$18.1 billion and visitor arrivals grew 16.6% to 14.2 million. Among those arrivals, the Paradise Group is confident its upcoming Paradise City resort will stand out among the crowd that follows. “Paradise will differentiate from new foreign players with ‘Korean-ness,’” says Paradise Group Chairman and CEO Philip Chun, who’s expecting to leverage hallyu , the Korean pop culture trend sweeping Asia.