Paradise SegaSammy Co., Ltd. investor, Sega Sammy Holdings Inc., a pachinko operator based in Tokyo, today announced that Phase I of their long-awaited integrated resort, known as Paradise City, would open in Incheon on April 20. The property will operate under the license currently held by the Paradise Group’s Paradise Casino Incheon (Golden Gate Paradise) which casino and hotel have been integrated into the larger offering with an eventual footprint of over 3.5 million square feet (333,000sqm).

The casino will open as a foreigners-only casino, as the only gaming property open to Korean denizens is the remote Kangwon Land Casino & Hotel in Sabuk-eup,  Gangwon Province, which opened in 2000 and is about 3 hours drive from Incheon – and even farther from other major population centers such as Busan and Daegu.

Upon opening, guests will have access to a casino, hotel, and conference facility that will also be used for banquets.

Sega Sammy has invested US$202,767,398 of the total US$1.12 billion committed so far to the resort, the first of its kind in Korea. The property brands itself as an Art – Tainment Resort and lauds, “The birth of a new city that transcends reality and imagination where past and future coexist”.

The release stated that the casino will offer 154 gaming tables, 281 slot machines and a total of 62 electronic gaming positions over 4 installations. Restaurants and bars will be available in the casino area.

Food and beverage options in the casino and 711 room hotel will include On the Plate serving American, Mediterranean, Buffet, Cantonese, Shanghaiese, and European cuisine, Lounge Paradise, Garden Café, The Bakery, Café 9, La Scala Italian eatery, Raku serving Japanese, Imperial Treasure serving Cantonese and The Emperor offering fine dining, as well as Entertainment Bar Rubik along with South Korea’s only Royal Salute and Perrier-Jouet lounges on the 2nd and 3rd floors.

Lodgings include deluxe rooms, suites, and deluxe pool villas. The convention facility will offer a ballroom, two medium-sized party rooms, and five meeting rooms, and can cater for international conferences, events, and weddings.

Paradise SegaSammy Co., Ltd. was founded in 2012 and operates as a subsidiary of Paradise Co., Ltd. Sega Sammy Holdings Inc. is a holding company which was formed when Sega and Sammy merged in 2004. Sega was a well known and popular name in the 8-bit video game amusement business but was originally established in Japan in 1951 as a slot machine maker. Sammy was founded in 1975 by Hajime Satomi and originally marketed amusement arcade machines before going into pachislots (skill-based “fruit” games) and then pachinko machines in the 1990’s.

Paradise Company Limited lists their first achievement as the purchase of Olympos Tourism in 2000,although the Incheon Olympos Hotel Casino opened in 1967 and became Paradise Casino in 1969. The casino moved to the Hyatt Regency Incheon in 2005 and is now known as Paradise Casino Incheon, and in a little over a month will be known as “The First Korean-style Integrated Resort in Northeast Asia.”