Inside Asian Gaming

JAN 2019 INSIDE ASIAN GAMING 13 MOHEGAN SIGNS STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP WITH PARAMOUNT FOR KOREAN IR MOHEGAN Gaming & Entertainment CEO Mario Kontomerkos has described the evolution of a new kind of integrated resort called the “integrated entertainment resort” after the company announced that it had signed a strategic partnership with Paramount Pictures for a theme park at its planned Korean IR, Inspire. The partnership, coming hot on the heels of a deal with live entertainment company Live Nation Asia to acquire talent, sees Mohegan provided the opportunity to utilize Paramount’s intellectual property in the development of a “large scale” theme park. Explaining the company’s Korea plans in its fourth quarter fiscal 2018 earnings call, Kontomerkos said the Paramount deal “represents both the convergence and evolution of a new kind of global integrated resort – the integrated entertainment resort – which seamlessly combines and masterplans the traditional IR with highly sought after themed and large scale entertainment. “This will be the first such development in all of northern Asia and we are confident that it will transform the Incheon area of South Korea into Asia’s next major entertainment destination.” Although the ownership structure is yet to be determined, Kontomerkos said that Inspire will almost certainly own a stake in the new theme park. Mohegan is set to break ground on Inspire, located on around 1.7 million square meters of land connected to Incheon Airport near Seoul, in May 2019 with opening scheduled for 2022.