Jeju Dream Tower casino officially opens
The relocated casino has finally opened its doors at Jeju Dream Tower.
South Korea.- the Jeju Dream Tower casino has finally opened it doors today (Friday June 11) after passing a final inspection.
The Jeju Dream Tower casino has 5,367 square metres (57,770 sq. feet) of gaming floor. It has 141 game tables offering five types of table game, 190 slot machines, and 71 electronic gaming machines. It also includes an ETG master table. The previous venue had 27 just tables and 51 machines.
Lawrence Teo, chief operating officer, referred to the lack of tourists due to the Covid-19 pandemic but said he was confident casino sales will generate about KRW30-40bn (US$27-36m) a month, mainly from foreigners living in Korea.
There are only three casinos on Jeju island currently operating, the others being Paradise Casino Jeju Grand and Landing Casino.
The casinos are struggling owing to the lack of tourism due to the Covid-19 pandemic. South Korea’s foreigner-only casino operators depend almost entirely on the arrival of tourists. During the first two months of 2021 combined, tourist arrivals to South Korea were down 93.7 per cent.
In 2020, casinos on Jeju island together saw sales decline by 63.6 per cent year-on-year 2020 to KRW69.30bn (US$61.5m). That compares to sales of KRW190.0bn (US$168.7m) in 2019, before the global Covid-19 pandemic.
The government postponed the deadline for South Korean casinos to pay their sales taxes. Casino operators must pay a tax of around 10 per cent on sales twice each year, in June and September.
