Two professors at South Korea’s Integrated Resort Tourism Research Centre say casinos on Jeju Island could benefit from proxy betting, in which gamblers make bets from a remote location, and the use of cryptocurrency to place those wagers.
According to GGRAsia, Bong Mi Hee, a professor at the research center in Seoul, said remote, blockchain-based could help casinos on the island recover from the Covid-19 pandemic. Bong mentioned Bitcoin specifically as a suitable digital payment token for remote gambling. She said such payments could be completed either via a licensed online casino website or a cryptocurrency-sector “brokerage website.”
Professor Seo Wonseok added that gambling payments could be processed via blockchain, Jeju’s own debit card and gift card system denominated in Korean won, or a locally developed form of cryptocurrency. Seo also said the rule that limits Jeju casinos to five-star hotels should be relaxed, to help boost the Jeju casino sector.
Only three of Jeju’s eight foreigner-only casinos are now operational: Jeju Dream Tower, run by Lotte Tour Development; Paradise Casino Jeju Grand, run by Paradise Co. Ltd.; and the Landing Casino, run by a unit of Hong Kong-listed Landing International Development Ltd.
In 2020, Jeju’s eight casinos generated combined sales of KRW69.3 billion (US$58.7 million), according to data from South Korea’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. That was a decline of 63.6 percent year-on-year, on the KRW190.3 billion recorded in 2019.
In 2020, Jeju casinos received 166,873 visits, down 54.8 percent year-on-year, on the 369,409 visits in full-year 2019.
In related news, the South Korean government may delay payment of some Tourism Promotion and Development Fund fees that came due this year. A representative of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, told GGRAsia that a grace period until June 2022 had been approved for “two casino entities,” but didn’t name them.
