Supervisory body would provide more transparency
Growing Chinese visitation to Jeju Island in South Korea has led to increased investment by Chinese companies in the island’s casino industry. If that trend accelerates, government officials worry that all eight casinos on the island eventually could be taken over by foreigners, according to the Korea Times.
Last June, Grand Express Korea, a partnership of Hong Kong’s Landing International and Genting Hong Kong, acquired a casino at the Hyatt Hotel Jeju and renamed it Genting Jeju. The partners are now developing a multimillion-dollar resort complex on the island, which is set to open in 2018; the facility is expected to cater to largely Chinese tourists.
Insiders say local hospitality company Blackstone Resorts, which has acquired a 52.5 percent stake in Golden Beach Casino at the Jeju KAL Hotel, is being backed by Chinese real estate developer Macrolink. In addition, the owner of a casino operating at the Ramada Plaza Hotel Jeju has reportedly sold a 30 percent stake to an unidentified Chinese national. Bloomberry Resorts, which is also foreign-based in the Philippines, acquired The LVegas Casino at THE Hotel in March.
“We have closely been monitoring what’s been happening in the Jeju casino industry,” an unnamed government official told the Times. “The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism supervises casinos inland, but we have authority to oversee casinos on Jeju. We are increasingly concerned about small-scale casinos being taken over by Chinese capital.”
Local officials are now considering legislation handed down from the provincial government that would establish a supervisory body with the aim of exercising more stringent regulation over casino operations, thereby making the ownership structures more transparent.
“We really hope that the provincial assembly passes the ordinance as soon as possible so that we can tighten our grip on casinos,” the official said. “In addition, the National Assembly should pass a revised Tourism Promotion Act, which will require those acquiring casinos to get approval from the government and renew their licenses every three years.”
Meanwhile, Hong Kong-listed Landing International Development, based in Mainland China, which just folded on an attempt to acquire the foreigners-only Alpensia Casino at Holiday Inn Resort in Pyeongchang, South Korea, just announced that it will raise “not less than” circa HKD6.45 billion (US$832 million), of which almost 70 percent will be used to fund the Resorts World Jeju casino project in South Korea.
According to GGRAsia, an additional HKD227 million has been earmarked for a “training center” in Jeju. Landing has joined with Genting Singapore to build the US$1.8 billion Jeju casino resort. It will also be open only to foreigners.
