There is a new wave of interest from international investors towards the gambling industry of South Korea. The British multinational bank Standard Chartered has given a surprisingly optimistic report of the South Korean market.
One of the points worth considering is that the three men who own the three top performing gambling operators in the country are in the ‘Inside Asian Gaming’s Top 50’. The three companies are: Paradise Group, Grand Korea Leisure and Kangwon Land.
The analysts from Chartered Bank predicted that by 2020, the internationals-only casinos’ revenues are to increase by 400%, compared to 2013, when they were $1.3 billion. Kangwon as well has impressive revenue reports from local gamblers – $1.25 billion. Kangwon casino is the only licensed casino which allows local players.
From the looks of it, South Korea is heading towards rank three of the global gambling industries after the U.S. and Macau.
Other factors which positively affect the growth of South Korea are the quadruple increase in Chinese tourists compared to 2009 as well as the favorable geo-location of the country – a two hour fly-away from the three biggest industries in the continent. Chinese tourists from Northern Chinese cities such as Shanghai prefer South Korea to Singapore or the Philippines, seen by the 15% increase in tourist inflow.
Another positive factor is the lower rates of bets and the minimum bet of $35,000 to become a VIP player. The opening of the so-called Integrated Resorts – resorts which allow local players to gamble, is going to improve the perception of customers who can now feel the ‘Koreanness’ of the resorts which will include a wide variety of entertainments such as traditional and pop culture shows.
All of the IR’s have massive investments, all above $2 billion. The president of South Korea also shows interest in easing the work of the industry by having a team which specifically works on the improvement and implementation of new gambling regulations in a few months’ time.
The question lies whether the predicted success of the Integrated Resorts will shoot South Korea far ahead of its neighbor competitors or will the other countries manage to accumulate enough unique selling points of their own.
Standard Chartered experts gave as example the World Manila Resorts in the Philippines, which lead to a 100% increase of the gambling market when local players were allowed to bet and play. Other casino resorts such as Genting casino, despite their visible edge when it comes to luxury and entertainment choices, did not manage to earn the same amount of customers as they were still only for international gamblers.
Even though the local success of World Manila is inspiring, the analysts are sure that South Korea’s Integrated Resorts will bring much more revenue as the Philippines cannot match competitors’ luxury standards. Only the future will prove once and for all how the gambling industries of Asia rank among each other and the rest of the world.
