Representatives of the casino operator Mohegan Gaming and Entertainment will meet with officials from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) later this month, said Drew Kelly, the company's chief financial officer. He added that there will be discussions about the company's casino ventures in the country.
The company is known as Mohegan Sun, which is headquartered in the U.S. state of Connecticut. The U.S. local tribal casino operator is building an integrated resort called Inspire next to Incheon International Airport, which spent $1.6 billion on the first phase, which is scheduled to open in 2021.
"The next most important step when it comes to Inspire development is the meeting that will be with MCST in late August and early September," Kelly said in a conference call with investment analysts after the Mohegan Sun reported results for the quarter ended June 30.
The CFO said, "We are preparing a series of information for them... We believe it will be well received, otherwise we will talk about the unique aspects of this truly integrated resort and how it will become the dominant property in the market," it added. "As a product of that, we will provide an update on the funding structure."
Kelly also said he and other company executives would "spend the remaining balance" in Asia in 2018 and "make sure that both meetings with MCST and meetings with financing partners are successful."
The first phase of the casino resort in Incheon will feature a 15,000-seat indoor entertainment arena, three hotels including 1,000 rooms, an event space of more than 11,000 square meters, a store, and a foreigner-only casino with a total floor area of 25,000 square meters, with 180 game tables and 700 slot machines.
Mohegan Sun expects to finalize the financing of Inspire by the end of the year and "pre-development and related financing" of the project will be on track.
"I don't think the schedule has changed much ... But to check everything... The first big step is this month's MCST meeting. And then, we'll have a very clear picture of the exact timing," Kelly said.
He added: "But in general, the date regarding financing or opening has not changed substantially so far."