Mohegan Gaming & Entertainment (MGE) says it plans to open its multibillion-dollar integrated resort (IR) in South in the second half of 2022. The Inspire Entertainment Resort is the company’s first development outside North America.
An MGE spokesperson told GGRAsia the firm has made good use of a pause in construction caused by the coronavirus, redesigning the resort to “create a post-Covid-19 experience that places focus on the safety of guests and employees.”
The plan for a second-half 2022 opening “reflects the realities of a more stringent Covid-19 -compliant construction process,” said the spokesperson. “The pace of construction has been impacted by lockdowns and quarantines in the United States and Asia, interrupting the movements of professionals and business activities critical to the development, design and construction of the project.”
Incheon International is one of the most contemporary and consumer-friendly airports in the world, almost a destination in itself with its private sleeping rooms, golf course, spa, ice rink, video game center, museum and medical center. According to Casino.org, Airports Council International, a global trade organization, has ranked Incheon International as the “Best Airport Worldwide” every year since 2005.
Inspire will fit right in, adding three five-star luxury hotels with a combined 1,250 rooms along with a rooftop infinity pool, indoor and outdoor shopping, more than 40 restaurants, a 15,000-seat theater, a 120,000-square-foot convention center and a foreigners-only casino with 1,500 slot machines and 250 table games. South Koreans are allowed to gamble only at Kangwon Land, a casino resort owned and operated by the South Korean government, in a remote part of Gangwon Province.
In bidding for the license in South Korea, MGE pledged to invest $5 billion in the project over 20 years. According to the Korea Times, the scheme is to be developed in four phases, with the final one complete by 2031.
Despite Covid-19, which has brought international travel to a crawl and moved some countries to institute travel restrictions including quarantines, MGE CEO Mario Kontomerkos remains upbeat. He told Casino.org the immersive type of experience such lavish resorts provide will continue to be attractive to governments and developers.
“I think you’re going to continue to see the expansion of integrated entertainment resorts, and we’ll be at the forefront,” Kontomerkos said. “I do think that safety has always been at the top of our thinking in this industry—safety for our guests—and it is even more so now.”
In related news, plans to build a cluster of IRs near Incheon Airport are also in question as Covid-19 disrupts financing options, according to Korean media. There are three major facilities in the area: Inspire, Paradise City, which is already open and operating and the stalled Caesars Korea complex, which began construction in September 2017 and is only 25 percent complete. Construction stopped in February due to a dispute between Caesars and its Chinese partner, Guangzhou R&F Properties.
The local authorities of the Incheon Free Economic Zone have reportedly been trying to mediate the differences between the two companies and to restart the project, to no avail so far.
In its statement on Incheon, MGE said, “In close cooperation with the relevant agencies, Mohegan Gaming will endeavor to address any remaining gaps in the development process and make adjustment to the opening timeline.” The company, with a gaming empire founded on its flagship operation, the Mohegan Sun resort in Uncasville, Connecticut, has also won the right to develop a casino resort near the former Hellenikon International Airport near Athens.
Elsewhere in South Korea, concerns are growing on Jeju Island that the ongoing health crisis will lead to widespread layoffs in the casino sector. Jeju has eight foreigners-only casinos.
According to the Jeju Island Tourism Association, foreign tourist arrivals to Jeju were down about 98.5 percent in the second quarter of 2020, with only 6,246 foreigners visiting the province over the entire three-month period. Only four of the eight casinos are currently open for business at all. One of the eight companies reportedly ended its financial support to furloughed workers in July, and at least three others are expected to follow suit by the end of October, Asia Gaming Brief reported.
An industry executive said, “There are 2,200 to 2,300 casino workers in the province, and restructuring is inevitable if it goes on like this. We need some government support measures.”
An official of the Ministry of Employment and Labor replied, “We understand the difficult reality faced by the casino industry, but we judged that the situation for the travel industry and for duty-free shops is even more dire, and for that reason the casino industry has not been our priority for support measures.”
