Manila’s Bloomberry buys land in South Korea

Bloomberry is the developed and operated the Solaire Casino and Resort in Manila, in the Philippines, and has also expressed an interest in investing in the Japan market if casino resorts are legalized there.

The new land in South Korea will be acquired under Solaire Korea Co Ltd, a Korean subsidiary company of Bloomberry. On January 18, the South Korean government said it would seek bids from private sector investors for two more foreigners-only casino licenses, each with a minimum investment of KRW1 trillion (US$925 million). It didn’t specify a location for the new licenses.

The already approved Incheon licenses include a venture between South Korea’s Paradise Co Ltd and Japan’s Sega Sammy Holdings Inc. The other is for Caesars Entertainment Corp and Lippo Ltd for an integrated resort expected to be ready by 2018. Both are also for foreigners players-only casinos.

Other foreign investors – including a company led by Hong Kong billionaire Cheng Yu Tung, a long time associate of Macau casino entrepreneur Stanley Ho Hung Sun and investor in SJM Holdings Ltd’ parent company – have also been linked to a possible Incheon casino project. Incheon International Airport, which serves the South Korean capital Seoul, served 45.5 million passengers in 2014, a year-on-year rise in travelers of 9.7 percent, according to the country’s Yonhap News Agency.

The number of Chinese tourists to South Korea grew by 46 percent in 2014, to 6.33 million, Yonhap reported on January 13, quoting the South Korean Embassy in Beijing. Mainland China is a major feeder market for South Korea’s gaming industry.

South Korea currently has 16 casinos for foreigners-only and one for locals, according to the University of Nevada-Las Vegas Center for Gaming Research.