U.S.-based tribal gaming operator Mohegan Gaming & Entertainment (MGE) continues to work toward a second-quarter 2023 opening date for its $1.6 billion Inspire Korea integrated resort in Incheon.
According to Inside Asian Gaming, an update on the came from the company’s international president, Bobby Soper as part of GLI’s recent Illuminating Conversations series.
“My goal is to close that transaction in the very near future, remobilize, get construction going and opening in 2023,” said Soper.
Earlier this year, MGE got a six-month extension of its deadline to open Inspire Korea, from late 2022 to the first half of 2023. Soper said the resort will open “hopefully in the second quarter of 2023 or third quarter latest 2023.
“It’s been a rollercoaster, we’ve had our ups and downs, and Covid certainly threw a curve ball,” Soper said. “But we’re in the ground, we have significant investment in the ground. We need to finalize some of the final financing and I just spent two and half months in Korea pursuing that. I think we are far along.”
Soper also said he’s confident of the resort’s long-term success, though it will serve foreign gamblers only. “It’s a tremendous opportunity,” he said. “It’s [foreigner-only] gaming but let’s keep in mind greater Seoul is 28 million people. This is really the first truly integrated resort in the area. Paradise [City] opened in Incheon too with a MICE-hotel focus, but we’re entertainment focused—that’s our brand.
“And you have 28 million people in the pop culture hub of Asia, where there really isn’t an indoor arena in Greater Seoul. There are some stadiums but they are all suboptimal for live entertainment, and that’s the type of opportunity we’re looking at here.
“A good part of our traffic will be driven locally through the Greater Seoul area but there is still great opportunity for the international gamer,” he continued. “Remember, our tax rate is less than half of what it is in Macau, so when you bring all these amenities and you look at the potential from China and Japan, we feel really good about the opportunity on the non-gaming side and even on the gaming side.”
In March, the South Korean government granted MGE a one-year postponement, to the first half of 2023, to open Phase 1 of Inspire.
