SOUTH KOREA

Mohegan teams with Live to fill Inspire Arena

Mohegan Gaming & Entertainment has teamed with Live Nation in a bid to drive non-gaming revenue at its planned $5 billion South Korean resort.

The development, known as Project Inspire, is close to the Incheon International Airport, one of the busiest in the world and is scheduled to open in 2020.

The casino portion of the property will be for foreigners only and therefore the ability to attract large local audiences with entertainment and other options may be key to driving revenue.

“Mohegan Gaming & Entertainment and Live Nation have been long-time partners in creating one of the most successful arena venues in the world for its size, the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut,” said Mohegan CEO Mario Kontomerkos. “Now, we are partnering again to do the same, only this time it will be at the Inspire Super Arena at the Incheon International Airport, right in the heart of the burgeoning Northern Asia entertainment market.”

The companies said the venture was a “multiyear” partnership, though gave no further details.

Alan Ridgeway, Live Nation president, international and emerging markets, said touring in North Asia has been expanding significantly in recent years and the Inspire arena will help to boost growth.

Project Inspire is expected to include a three-tower luxury hotel complex with more than 1,300 five-star and six-star guest rooms; more than 20,000 square meters of luxury retail; more than 20 food and beverage concepts and a 4,500 square-meter Korean cosmetics and beauty hub, promoting South Korea’s dominance in Asia in this field.

The arena will have capacity for up to 15,000 attendees. The resort is also expected to include an indoor/outdoor amusement park with 100,000 square meters of high-tech amusement rides; a 33,000 square-meter EcoAdventure Park featuring indoor rock climbing, zip lining, an indoor rainforest, and an archaeology experience and a 20,000 square-meter casino. This property will be the first and only destination resort in the world with an adjacent private air terminal.

Project Inspire will join Paradise City, a joint venture between South Korean operator Paradise Co. and Japan’s Sega Sammy and a planned development by Caesars Entertainment.

Paradise City opened in April 2017 and has been ramping up strongly, now accounting for about a third of total group revenue. In Q2 sales were up almost 61 percent year-on-year, although were lower quarter on quarter due to bad luck. The company said 68 percent of its revenue was from non-gaming sources due to strong domestic demand.

In the casino, Japanese players were a major driver for growth. The company also said it had seen a solid performance from other VIP sectors. However, the VIP drop from China was lower, falling to KRW339 billion from KRW391 billion the same quarter the prior year.

Relations between Seoul and Beijing were strained due to the deployment in South Korea of a U.S. anti-missile defence system. In retaliation, China banned tour groups to the country in March, 2017.

Although that ban has since been eased, a Communist Party owned newspaper in June warned South Korea that China tourism numbers are unlikely to return to their pre-ban levels unless Seoul changes its approach to national security.

Paradise City opened new facilities in September, with a greater emphasis on entertainment, completing the first phase of the development.

The facilities developed under Phase 1-2 feature 110,000 m2 of floor area and are comprised of a boutique hotel, Art Paradiso; a premium spa, Cimer; a club, Chroma, which will be the largest in Northeast Asia; an art gallery, Paradise Art Space; an event-type shopping mall, Plaza; a cutting-edge film studio, Studio Paradise and an indoor family entertainment facility, Wonderbox, together with other facilities.

Opposition demands illegal hiring probe

Opposition parties submitted a proposal to launch a joint parliamentary probe into alleged illicit hiring practices of public agencies, including state-owned Kangwon Land.

Demand for an investigation came after recent allegations against Seoul Metro, which alleged that 11.2 percent of its 17,000 strong workforce was related in some manner. Kangwon Land, a state-owned casino, was also embroiled in a hiring scandal after it was revealed that the operator had hired children of powerful figures in the country from 2011-2014 under the leadership of Choi Heung-jip.

Liberty Korea Party leader Kim Byong-joon said the exposed cases may only be “the tip of an iceberg,” according to Korea Herald.

Landing chairman still missing

Landing International Development says there is still no news of its missing chairman, whose disappearance has sent the company’s shares into a tailspin.

Landing confirmed recently that Yang Zhihui is still missing and can’t be contacted. The company announced on August 23 that Yang could not be found, with local media in Cambodia subsequently reporting a few days later that he had been arrested there. There has been no confirmation of his detention.

The company operates the Jeju Shinhwa World IR on the island of Jeju and regulators there say they are monitoring operations of the project as a precautionary measure.