Las Vegas Sands Wants South Korean Government To Allow Locals To Gamble

South Korea’s gambling industry has been growing at a rapid pace over the past 12 months and the country’s 17 casinos are aggressively promoting and marketing their brands in order to capture a large percent of the market share and establish themselves as the number one brand in the country.

Sheldon Adelson’s Las Vegas Sands Corp now wants to enter the South Korean gambling industry and establish their American brand in the city of Busan.

Adelson believes that the South Korean gambling industry has enormous potential and has approached the South Korean government with a proposal to construct a mega casino resort that is estimated to be over $6 billion.

South Korea’s casinos currently cater to tourists and the government only allows locals to gamble in one of the seventeen casinos. The government has put an emphasis on encouraging tourism and the casino industry has taken a special interesting in luring gamblers from Mainland China, Singapore and Japan.

The Las Vegas Sands Corp has stated that it does not want to compete with the existing casinos and target tourists in South Korea. Adelson has informed the South Korean government that he has no interest in offering gambling services to tourists but prefers to target the local market. The American Billionaire has asked the South Korean government to reconsider its stance on preventing locals to gamble at the casinos. Adelson stated that he is willing to invest over $6 billion into the South Korean economy if the government was willing to allow locals to play the casinos.

If the South Korean government does cave into Adelson’s requests and permit locals to gamble at the Las Vegas Sands casino, the established casinos in South Korea will protest for not being granted the same privilege. The South Korean government is currently considering Adelson’s proposal and will most likely make a decision within the next couple of months.

The Mayor of Busan is very keen to team up with the Las Vegas Sands Corp and help them establish their first South Korean casino in his city. He will discuss the proposal with senior members in the South Korean government and highlight the fact the investment would not only be beneficial for the city of Busan but also for the people of South Korea.

Adelson’s proposal is likely to be met with a lot of resistance as an article in the Korean times highlighted the fact that the $6 billion investment offer by the Las Vegas Sands Corp is a sly and manipulative method of trying to influence the South Korean government to give in to their demands.