Inside Asian Gaming

FEB 2019 INSIDE ASIAN GAMING 23 “Incheon is the perfect place” Paradise City operator Paradise Sega- Sammy President and CEO Park Pyung-yong also president of Paradise Group, spoke with Inside Asian Gaming Editor at Large Muhammad Cohen about key issues facing the Korean peninsula’s first integrated resort and the nation’s casino industry. Muhammad Cohen: Paradise has casinos in Jeju, Incheon, Busan and Seoul. Why build the IR in Incheon? Pyung Yong Park: Actually regarding China, regarding Japan, Incheon is the perfect place. Five minutes from the airport, walking distance 10 minutes, by car two minutes. Before, we had the casino at the [airport’s] Grand Hyatt. People might spend five hours gambling. After that, they think, “Oh, what else should I do?” But there’s nothing here. They have to go to Seoul. With the IR, we have everything: we have concerts, K-pop, restaurants, a shopping mall, duty free. People come to South Korea for two purposes. Some people want to enjoy Korean culture, see sights. For that, they go to Seoul or to other places. If people enjoy gambling and something modern, they’ll get everything here. They don’t have to go to any other place. MC: Are you anxious to see Caesars and Inspire open? PYP: Actually, many of our staff worry about Caesars. I never think about this as a hurdle because a Korean IR should be more Korean style. Otherwise people will go to Macau, to Singapore. If we do Las Vegas style, we don’t have any advantage over Singapore and Macau. That’s why we focus on more Korean style. MC: Do you expect the gaming pie to grow with more IRs? PYP: Yes. The pie should be bigger. We experienced that when Seven Luck opened in 2005. For one or two years, we were effected very much, but after three or four years the pie got much bigger. MC: How has Paradise responded to decreased Chinese visitor numbers? PYP: Before [China’s group travel restrictions against South Korea], China represented more than 50% of the entire market, but I think that time is gone. It’s a new Asian market now. We focus on Thailand, Mongolia, Malaysia, Taiwan, many places.