Mainland China goes after countries wooing high rollers
Paradise Co., South Korea’s largest operator of foreigner-only casinos, wants to get its share of migrating Chinese players.
With the ongoing exodus of high rollers from Macau?prompted by Chinese President Xi Jinping’s crackdown on money laundering?Paradise plans to expand three of its five foreigner-only casinos, and double the size of the gaming floor at a casino on Jeju Island, Vice Chairman Lee Hyuk-Byung told CDC Gaming Reports. The company will also add 26 gambling tables at its properties, mostly for baccarat. The expansion will cost about $26 million.
“If you visit our casinos, it isn’t full on the weekdays, but on the weekends from Friday afternoon to Sundays, it’s fully packed and very crowded,” Lee said. “This means we cannot provide all the gaming needs of our visitors. By expanding, we can.”
In 2014, Paradise posted its first profit decline in three years, according to Bloomberg News.
As the company plans its upgrades, the Chinese government is looking to stop the outflow of gamblers, and stop companies like Paradise from trying to lure them. According to Bloomberg News, Chinese authorities will target casino operators from nearby countries trying “to attract and recruit Chinese citizens” to gamble abroad, said Hua Jingfeng, a deputy director at China’s Ministry of Public Security.
“Some foreign countries think of us as a big market, and we have already investigated a series of related cases,” said Hua.
Many Chinese gamblers no longer willing to play in Macau have opted for casinos in countries including the Philippines, South Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Australia and Singapore. There has been a surge in the number of visitors from China to South Korea over the past two years, Lee said.
Ilwoo Yang, an analyst at Samsung Securities Co., wrote in a note last week that Korea’s proximity to China could benefit its casinos. About 6.1 million Mainland travelers visited the country last year, an increase of 42 percent, according to data from the Korea Tourism Organization.
Paradise is Korea’s biggest foreigners-only casino operator, with an almost 50 percent market share. Grand Korea Leisure, a state-run casino operator, ranks second with a 42 percent share.
