Inside Asian Gaming

IAG JUN 2021年6月 亞博匯 26 COVER STORY In 2015, an outbreak of the deadly Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), combined with an economic downturn in China that was also felt in gaming jurisdictions across the region (including Macau), hit Korea’s gaming industry hard. From a peak of US$348 million in gaming revenue across its foreigner-only casinos in 3Q14, sales rapidly fell between 2014 and 2017 – reaching US$300 million just once from 2Q15 and falling to around US$250 million by early 2017. Then, in March 2017, Beijing announced a ban on all travel groups to its close neighbor after South Korea confirmed plans to install a THAAD missile system following increased military activity north of the border. The result was devastating for Korea’s foreigner- only casinos, which rely heavily on visitation from China – to this day the country’s number one source tourism market – for their bottom line. From a high of 8,067,722 Chinese visitors in 2016, just 4,169,353 arrived in 2017 and 4,789,512 in 2018, recovering slightly to 6,023,021 in 2019 before COVID decimated international tourism. Klebanow notes that, while China’s punitive action in 2017 was relatively short lived, “it illustrated how vulnerable the [Korean] casino sector is to shifts in political winds. “This is not to say that Korea’s casino industry is alone in its dependence on foreigners for all of its customers; it is just that its political alignment with the United States makes it an easy target for Chinese sanctions. Countries such as Cambodia and Laos are closer allies to the PRC and are dependent on Kangwon Land is the only casino in South Korea at which locals are allowed to gamble. 江原樂園是韓國唯一一家允許本國人入內賭博的賭場。