South Korea casino license derby heats up; Paradise revenue plunges on MERS fears

The competition for South Korea’s remaining two casino licenses is heating up.

A JP Morgan Securities note issued this week said South Korea plans to select “around two” potential sites for integrated resort projects sometime in August, after which companies would be required to submit full proposals by November. The applicants would learn their fate before the end of this year.

Local media reported that the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism had received 34 proposals for the two remaining licenses. The eager wannabes are said to include familiar names like South Korea’s Grand Korea Leisure, Macau’s Galaxy Entertainment Group, Cambodia’s NagaCorp, leading junket operator SunCity Group, Connecticut’s Mohegan Sun, those Saipan dilettantes Imperial Pacific International Holdings and Bill Weidner’s Global Gaming Asset Management.

Few of the applicants have been all that publicly forthcoming with specifics on their proposals, but most are believed to be eyeing areas already targeted for casino expansion, such as Incheon. But Galaxy is believed to be eyeing a property in Goyang, closer to Seoul, while the tandem of Lotte Group and Genting Group is believed to be eyeing a location in the port city of Busan (an area also favored by Las Vegas Sands, but only if locals are allowed in, which isn’t likely to happen).