INCHEON, KOREA - Incheon Development & Tourism Corp. said on July 7 that Lippo-Caesars Korea has paid the promised US$10 million, a 10-percent deposit for the total price of the land on which it would build a casino and entertainment resort within the Island of Yeongjong near Incheon International Airport. The U.S.-Indonesian joint venture will pay the remaining balance by the year's end. The development corporation expected the resort would be open before the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.

 

Lippo-Caesars Korea had won the preliminary license to operate the casino resort in March. The company has opened the local office and is currently hiring employees for the office. In addition, it is in the process of selecting architectural firms for designing the entertainment complex.

 

The casino and entertainment complex project, to be set up in Midan City, a development project located at Yeongjong Island's Incheon Free Economic Zone, will cost 746.7 billion won for the joint venture partners for the first stage of the project that involves a foreigners-only casino, a hotel, a shopping mall, and a convention center. The remaining second and third stages will be completed by 2023. The partners will break the ground in the first half next year and complete the project to build the casino and hotel by April 2018.

 

Currently gambling is illegal for Koreans, except at the nation's only casino for local citizens Kangwon Land. The country has 16 casinos catering only to foreigners.

 

Source : The Korea Economic Daily