South Korea’s Paradise City casino resort has finally set an opening date.
Japanese pachinko operator Sega Sammy Holdings announced that the integrated resort will open its first phase on April 20. In a statement, the Tokyo-based company said the initial phase of the resort, which sits on 330,000 square meters of land near Incheon’s international airport, will consist of a casino, a hotel as well as a convention and banquet hall.
Paradise City’s casino will be “one of the largest” in South Korea, in terms of floor space. The casino will feature 154 game tables, 281 slot machines and four, 62-seat electronic table games (ETG). The casino area will also have restaurants and bars, according to the company.
The project also plans to open a boutique hotel, entertainment clubs, premium spa, and commercial facilities in the first half of 2018.
The 711-room hotel will include suites and pool villa accommodation, as well as Japanese-, Chinese- Italian- and buffet-style restaurants, an “entertainment bar,” a spa and sauna, fitness facilities, indoor and outdoor pools, and a play area for children. Meanwhile, the convention facility will offer a ballroom, two “medium-sized” party rooms, and five meeting rooms, and can cater for “international conferences… events [and] weddings.”
Total investment for the integrated resort amounts to KRW1.3 trillion (USD1.12 billion), according to the announcement, which noted that “the amount invested by Sega Sammy is KRW232.9 billion.”
In 2012, Sega Sammy Holdings entered a joint venture with South Korea’s Paradise Co. Ltd., to develop and operate Paradise City.
The soon-to-open Incheon casino resort is expected to fuel Paradise Co.’s revenue in 2017. Analysts forecast the South Korean casino operator to achieve “total operating profit of KRW54.3 billion (-24.3 percent year-on-year) and net profit of KRW23.1 billion (-64.6 percent year-on-year) in 2017.”
Paradise Co.—which operates five foreigners-only casinos in South Korea— has swung back to profitability last year after it hit KRW603.1 billion (USD509 million) in the 12 months ending December 31, 2016. The figure is 6.2% higher than 2015’s total, which was down 14.7% from 2014.
However, the rise and fall of Paradise City depends on how many Chinese gamblers the property can attract. Paradise Co. had earlier said that the company would establish a “massive’ junket operation to ensure a steady stream of Chinese high rollers crossed the casino’s threshold.
