Tim Alper is a journalist who covers betting news and regulation for CasinoBeats. He joined the CasinoBeats team in May 2025. He reports on breaking news and developments in the world of betting, casinos, and...
Read Full BioThe Jeju Dream Tower Casino has overtaken Paradise City to become South Korea’s highest-earning casino that only admits foreign passport holders.
According to the South Korean newspaper Maeil Kyungjae, the Dream Tower Casino has recorded the highest net sales among the country’s 16 foreigner-only casinos.
The casino posted an all-time sales high of KRW 43.44 billion ($31.1 million) for July. This represents a 90.1% year-over-year increase compared to the same month in 2024.
The Jeju Dream Tower complex also boasts a resort, as well as a range of other non-casino-related facilities.
Paradise City Finally Yields Top Spot
Paradise City, in Incheon, has enjoyed an almost uninterrupted reign at the top of the revenue rankings since early 2019.
But last month, Paradise dropped to second place, posting sales revenues of 40.456 billion won ($29 million). It was followed by Seoul Paradise Walkerhill with 29.737 billion won ($21.3 million).
Making up the top five were Seven Luck’s Gangnam COEX casino with 19.115 billion won ($13.7 million) and the same operator’s Dragon City, with 13.267 billion won ($9.5 million).
The Jeju casino also surpassed Incheon Paradise City in foot traffic figures last month. It recorded 56,601 visitors, ahead of Paradise’s 36,535.
This marks a sharp rise from last year, when Jeju Dream Tower Casino averaged about 30,000 visitors per month. Footfall rose to 40,000 in March this year and climbed over the 50,000 mark in May.
KED Global reported that Jeju Dream Tower Casino is now “on track to snatch the crown from Paradise City as the nation’s No. 1 casino this year.”
Jeju is a subtropical island province off the south coast of the South Korean mainland. The island has typically been a hotspot for Chinese tourists.
However, tourism from China dropped off quickly in the wake of the US military’s THAAD missile system deployment to South Korea in the mid-2010s.
The coronavirus pandemic also caused a general drop in tourist numbers. But last year saw a huge increase in Chinese visitors. In the first half of 2024, 680,895 Chinese tourists arrived in Jeju, a year-on-year rise of 766.5%.
Casino Foot Traffic Set for Further Boost
Maeil Kyungjae reported that Lotte Tour Development, the Jeju Dream Tower Casino operator, predicts that a new visa waiver for Chinese group tourists will spark further growth. The waiver comes into effect on September 29.
The waiver announcement has already led to a spike in share prices of casino operators like Paradise.
A Lotte Tour spokesperson explained that the operator has recently hired several “veteran marketers” from Macao’s casino scene.
The company said these marketers have “long-standing relationships” with high-spending VIP casino patrons. The spokesperson explained: “We will make company-wide efforts to attract these VIPs to Jeju.”
The Dream Tower Casino opened in 2021 during the pandemic. The casino initially posted disappointing average monthly sales. But a recent rise in direct international flights to Jeju has seen the casino’s fate reverse, the newspaper concluded.
Earlier this year, the casino operator Kangwon Land warned that companies were using AI technology to create ads promoting bogus casino apps. Kangwon Land’s High1 is the only South Korean casino that allows domestic passport holders to enter.
