Cryptocurrency firm Dragon Inc says it has a strategic partnership with the South Korean casino brand Seven Luck to bring Dragon Inc’s “blockchain platform” to the country’s casino industry, and that it has “sights firmly set on VIP junket rooms”.
Dragon Inc stated in a Wednesday press release that its technology would facilitate “speed, security, [and] convenience” for VIP play at the casinos run by the Seven Luck brand, while “reducing fees” for high rollers.
The Seven Luck brand has three foreigner-only casinos in South Korea: two in the capital Seoul and one in the southern port city of Busan. The brand’s parent is Grand Korea Leisure Co Ltd (GKL), a subsidiary of the Korea Tourism Organization, which in turn is affiliated to South Korea’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. GGRAsia approached GKL seeking comment on Dragon Inc’s announcement, but had not received a reply by the time this story went online.
Blockchain – also known as “open distributed ledger” – is being seen in some quarters as a major advance in the security, storage and sharing of information and transaction of monetary or other economic value held in digital form.
According to Dragon Inc’s website, a casino player can purchase the firm’s tokens from a cryptocurrency exchange. They can then be swapped for the firm’s Dragon Global Chips at its partner casinos and junkets, and played in the respective gaming venues.
Cooperating casinos can either pay any player winnings in Dragon Inc tokens, or the cryptocurrency of another supplier, or standard cash.
Dragon Inc’s website suggested the firm had partnerships with four different junket operators in Macau, but it did not identify them.
Business risk consultant Steve Vickers, a former senior Hong Kong policeman, told GGRAsia on the sidelines of a January event in Macau that cryptocurrencies, that can be used either to store value in cyberspace or access fiat currency via the conventional banking system, had – in the Macau context – the potential to dodge China’s efforts to stem capital outflow.
