Paradise Co, the operator of one of South Korea’s licensed foreigner-only casinos, has announced plans to renovate its main casino hotel, Paradise Casino Walkerhill, in Seoul. The plans include adding a VIP zone to its facilities by September this year, with 383.3 sq meters (4,123 sq feet) of space.
Internal updates include integration plans for the operating systems of its four casinos across South Korea, for better optimisation of its marketing efforts to its 1.07 million customers.
Another improvement is the plan to open a customer lounge at the Gimpo International Airport by August.
According to Lee Seon-hwa, a researcher at KB Securities: “As the explosive increase in demand from Japanese VIPs continues and the number of VIPs in new markets increases, Walkerhill Casino is expanding its capacity, so sales are expected to increase... As of May, Incheon Airport's number of flights to China and passengers recovered 91.4% and 70.7%, respectively, compared to May 2019. If Chinese VIP traffic significantly recovers to past levels, the effect of expanding Walkerhill's capacity will be more prominent."
He also explained that the casino population “will increase as opportunities to access casinos increase,” as “Thailand, following Russia and Japan, has also announced plans to build a casino resort complex.”
While casino gambling is allowed, most gambling is still illegal in South Korea. Recently, the nation's government have come up with a guideline specifically aimed at the loophole allowing illegal gambling at “hold’em pubs” and also plans to tackle the rise of online gambling addiction in teenagers.
