Here come the big guys
Last week, South Korean Lotte Tour Development Co. announced that a privately held affiliate, Dongwha Investment and Development, plans to build a giant integrated resort on Jeju Island.
According to GGRAsia, citing a report from Union Gaming Securities Asia, the project would have the tallest hotel tower in Jeju “by a significant margin” and could include up to 1,600 hotel rooms, 200 table games, 400 slot machines and electronic table games.
“There are currently eight operating casinos in Jeju, all of which are quite small, with an average of just 41 tables and 23 slots at each,” wrote Union Gaming analyst Grant Govertsen. “We believe Dream Tower represents the second large-scale foreigners-only IR to receive construction approval from the Jeju government.”
The first was Resorts World Jeju, a joint venture of Genting Singapore Plc and Mainland China real estate developer Landing International Development. In February, the team broke ground on a US$1.8 billion casino resort on Jeju.
Resorts World Jeju is expected to open in phases beginning in 2017. Dream World is expected to open in the second half of 2018.
On October 5, Union Gaming estimated casino gross gaming revenue in Jeju could “reach US$2 billion over time, up from approximately US$200 million today,” Casino News Daily reported.
