A casino resort in South Korea being developed by United States-based tribal casino operator Mohegan Gaming and Entertainment should only be fully completed by 2031. That is according to a report by media outlet Korea Times, featuring comments by Mohegan Gaming chief executive Mario Kontomerkos.
The media outlet reported that the scheme – known as ‘Inspire’ (pictured in an artist’s rendering) and located in Incheon, near South Korea’s capital Seoul – would be developed in four phases. The final phase would be completed by 2031, the report added.
The Korea Times stated that phase one of the project would include a five-star hotel with 1,256 rooms, a 15,000-seat event arena, a convention centre and a foreigner-only casino. Inspire’s initial phase had a budget of KRW1.5 trillion (US$1.29 billion), it added.
The timetable for the opening of the first phase of Inspire has now been set for 2022, said last week an official for the Incheon International Airport Corp (IIAC), one of the parties involved in the project.
“We are under construction as we speak and we are looking forward to opening in early part of 2022,” said Mr Kontomerkos in his most recent presentation, quoted by the Korea Times. The Mohegan Gaming executive was reportedly talking to journalists from South Korean media in a press conference about the Inspire scheme, held earlier this month.
He reportedly added: “We will be bringing Digital Street, which will be a great showcase for local Korean food, retail and technological talent and finally we will have a theme park that will be unlike any other in Asia.”
The latter was a reference to a Paramount Pictures-branded indoor theme park, to be developed in partnership with global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment Paramount Pictures Corp, as part of phase two of the Inspire project. Construction for phase two is to start in 2021, according to the Korea Times report. The KRW1.3-trillion phase two is to be completed by 2025, the report added.
