Inspire Entertainment Resort, a South Korean integrated resort (IR) with foreigner-only casino, is navigating effectively its recent change of control, and is drawing wealthy customers from Japan and Taiwan. That is according to Chen Si (pictured), the property’s president and representative director, in an interview with GGRAsia.
“Japan is the most important market for all the casinos in [South] Korea,” he stated.
The property – located near Incheon International Airport, the country’s main air hub that serves the capital Seoul – set up a marketing office last year in Tokyo, the Japanese capital, and one in Osaka this year, specifically to reach high-value customers.
Mr Si noted: “These offices allow our sales and marketing teams to stay in-market and talk to customers directly, especially on the premium end.”
He added: “We’ve partnered with Japanese operators to run poker tournaments and bring in players from Japan.”
Mr Si also observed that his venue also appealed to Japanese slot players. “We have a much more diverse slot offering than anyone else in Korea, thanks to our space and newer machines,” he suggested.
The executive also indicated that in another traditional inbound-tourism market for South Korea, namely the Chinese mainland, there had been “a lot of positive signals around Sino-Korean relations this year and beyond”.
“We certainly want to make sure we’re ready for growing inbound [volumes of] Chinese customers,” he added.
The Inspire boss also noted the casino was developing its VIP gaming business. The property was “proud to work with some of the largest agents and junkets from Taiwan,” describing that market as “a strong growth area” for the resort.
Another standout market, according to Mr Si, has been Russia and countries that were formerly part of the Soviet Union. They, along with Mongolia, “have been surprisingly high-performing regions,” he observed. “We’re actively working with agents there.”
Gaming product diversification
Inspire is planning to expand its capacity to host poker. “We’re talking to a few partners to potentially expand our poker space. We need the physical scale to host something like the World Poker Tour, but that’s definitely a part of our strategy,” the property president observed.
The resort recently introduced what it says is South Korea’s first live-dealer casino craps table. “It’s a very fun game. We want to bring in new experiences like that,” Mr Si said.
According to data released in May by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Inspire has one live-dealer craps table.
Although South Korea has traditionally been considered a small market for slots play in terms of per-property gross gaming revenue (GGR), Inspire claims leadership in that segment.
Mr Si said: “We brought in many new machines. Now, we’re the… market leader in slots in Korea. It’s a great entry point for foreign visitors who may not be hardcore gamblers.”
GGRAsia asked Mr Si about the spending power of mass-market visitors to the property. The non-gaming elements – including the 15,000-seater Inspire Arena, and Aurora, a “digital entertainment street” – will mark their second year of operation in November. In February this year, the casino marked its first 12 months of operation.
Mass-market visitors were “a good problem to have,” he stated. “You have to have the visitation first, it’s better than having none,” he said, adding that even general tour groups contributed to what he termed Inspire’s brand mission. “Tour groups that come to see things like Inspire’s Aurora Street still fulfil our mission to showcase Korean content. That’s valuable.”
Talks with international hotel brands
In addition to gaming, Inspire is developing its retail and hospitality businesses. “We’re targeting international tourists and business travellers. We’re in conversations with global hotel chains to boost visitor numbers,” Mr Si confirmed. He clarified that meant the possibility of bringing in an international hotel brand as part of the property’s accommodation offer.
The complex currently operates three self-branded hotel offerings categorised as five-star: Forest Tower; Sun Tower; and Ocean Tower, providing an aggregate of 1,275 rooms. It also offers a luxury villa option.
Entertainment is described as a major pillar for Inspire. Following 60 shows drawing an aggregate audience of half a million people in 2024, “60 percent of them international,” according to Mr Si, the resort is preparing more than 70 shows across the whole of this year. “We’re moving beyond K-pop – such as Hybe’s Weverse Con – to include J-pop, Mandopop, T1 eSports, and the World Table Tennis Championships,” he added.
The venue is also expanding into MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions) business. “Those events are very long lead time. We’re really already looking into 2026 and beyond.”
Inspire’s first 12 months of operation – measured from non-gaming launch in November 2023 – saw 5 million visits, of which more than half were foreigners, said Mr Si.
The property president stated that since summer 2024 the resort’s business performance had “steadily improved”.
He highlighted: “We’re now comfortably in the positive category in terms of EBITDA [earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation, and amortisation].”
“Momentum from a visitation standpoint, from a financial performance standpoint sets a great foundation” for the growth of the business, stated Mr Si.
Bain takeover
The Inspire property, developed by the United States-based Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority, was taken over in February by one of its lenders, private equity firm Bain Capital.
The venue is currently being offered for sale on the open market and could be disposed of if a sufficiently-attractive offer is made, though GGRAsia understands Bain is committed to continue operating it.
Mr Si had been the property president under Mohegan, and continues in that role.
He told GGRAsia regarding Bain’s takeover: “The strategy hasn’t changed drastically. Since 2021, Bain has been involved.”
He added, referring to an entity that legally holds the Inspire asset: “The February change of control occurred at our U.K.-based parent company level.
“The current sales process is the mechanism required under U.K. law to establish a fair market value of the asset in order for Bain Capital to formalise the ownership change,” said the property’s president.
Mr Si, who has previous management experience in the Asian casino sector, including at Macau operator Sands China Ltd, noted: “We have some experts… trying to bring technical know-how from more developed IR destinations like Singapore or Macau. As time moves on… knowledge is being transferred internally to our local team. Such evolution is natural.”
He noted there were also local regulatory requirements for the executive team to manage, citing South Korea’s casino visitor registration system as an example.
Referring to anti-money laundering (AML), he stated: “It’s more about AML, about verifying the source of wealth for all casino visitors. That’s a regulatory necessity here.”
Inspire’s president also said that job creation has been a key achievement of the project. “We’ve created over 2,500 direct and indirect jobs already. K-pop events like NCT Dream’s concert filled every hotel on our resort’s site here at Yeongjong island. Restaurants were packed. That’s the economic ripple effect we want to keep building.”
“Right now, we’re focused on optimising 1A, in terms of financial performance and obviously job creation etc.,” he noted, referring to the management term for the launch phase of the property.
“We’ve submitted plans for 1B to the Korean government and are discussing timing, financing, and zoning. We’re well under way,” he said. “It’s an exciting time for us.”
