Casino operators will get another crack at setting up shop in South Korea, but the country’s government says only “qualified” companies need apply. On Friday, a Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy spokesman said the government was in the process of revising regulations on the construction and operation of casinos inside the Free Economic Zones (FEZ) across the country. In July, South Korea’s government promised to invest 82 trillion won (US $76.5b) to ensure the development of eight such FEZ by 2022.
The government is proposing to rewrite the casino application rules in order to prevent a recurrence of the situation in June, when South Korea rejected bids by America’s Caesars Entertainment and Japan’s Universal Entertainment to build integrated resort casinos in the FEZ near Incheon. No reasons were given for the rebuff, but sources said Caesars’ dodgy finances left legislators concerned that the company wouldn’t survive long enough to see the project through to fruition. The ongoing legal issues facing Kazuo Okada in the Philippines were supposedly enough to give legislators a case of the Universal jitters.
The Korea Times reported that the government now plans to revise the application process to allow the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to screen out less competitive operators earlier on. The Ministry intends to reveal the specifics of its plan by Friday, Oct. 11. Regardless of who is deemed welcome to apply under the new rules, the government has no plans to change its rule against welcoming entry into the new casinos by its own citizens.
The government is also promising to modify tax systems and offer incentives to help attract international investors, but the same goodies could also be offered to local companies. In July, Japanese pachinko firm Sega Sammy Holdings teamed with South Korean gaming operator Paradise Co. to acquire and expand the existing Paradise Casino Incheon facility. The expanded casino – which will also feature two hotels, a theme park and a convention center – will open in stages beginning in 2016.
