Jeju Lotte casino shut, ready for permit swap to Dream Tower

Apr 09, 2021 Newsdesk Latest News, Rest of Asia, Top of the deck  

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Lotte Tour Development Co Ltd has closed its Jeju Lotte Tour Casino on the southern coast of the South Korean holiday island of Jeju, with effect from Friday morning. That was in preparation for moving the gaming licence to the group’s new foreigner-only casino at the new Jeju Dream Tower complex on the north coast, a company representative has confirmed after a telephone enquiry by GGRAsia.

A representative at the Jeju local government also confirmed to GGRAsia the closure of Jeju Lotte’s casino, pending the relocation.

Won Hee-ryong, governor of the Jeju Special Self-governing Province, signed on Thursday morning a document considered mandatory before Lotte Tour Development can transfer its casino licence for Jeju.

Another representative at the Jeju local government explained to GGRAsia on Thursday that inspection by the local casino regulator of the gaming facilities at Jeju Dream Tower could only begin once Lotte Tour Development had informed the local authorities of Jeju Lotte’s casino closure. The inspection process could take approximately 30 days.

Lotte Tour said in a filing to the Korea Exchange on Thursday that it planned to open the casino at Jeju Dream Tower in May.

The fresh scheme includes an expansion of the permissible casino area from 1,176 square metres (12,658 sq. feet) – featuring 27 tables, via five types of table game, and 51 gaming machines – to 5,368 sq. metres, with 150 tables, via five types of table game, and 300 machines.

According to a local government press release on Thursday, Jeju Lotte’s casino recorded in 2020 KRW1.346 billion (US$1.2 million) in sales, and received 1,601 unique customers.

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