According to Yonhap News,

(SEOUL = Yonhap News) The tourism ministry on Tuesday gave preliminary approval to a foreign casino operator to open a business in South Korea for the first time as part of efforts to boost the country's tourism industry.

The ministry said it gave LOCZ Korea, a joint venture between Las Vegas-based Caesars Entertainment and Indonesian conglomerate Lippo Group, the preliminary go-ahead to open a foreigner-exclusive casino in Yeongjongdo, an economic zone near Incheon International Airport, South Korea's main gateway.

LOCZ Korea will get a formal approval after the ministry assesses whether the company fully carried out its investment plan in January 2018.

The ministry said it had demanded the company make its accounts and operations transparent, and recommended creating jobs for locals. It said it can cancel the preliminary approval if the company fails to meet the requirements.

LOCZ Korea plans to invest 746.7 billion won (US$699.8 million) in building the casino resort by 2018 as the first stage of the project and complete it by 2023 by spending a total of 2.3 trillion won.

According to the company plan, the casino will open in April 2018, becoming the country's biggest one with a floor space of 7,700 square meters.

Last June, the ministry had rejected LOCZ Korea's bid to build its casino resort on the island that South Korea is hoping to turn into a casino resort city, citing its inadequate credit rating. The company has since improved its credit standing and increased its investment for the first stage of the casino construction, the ministry said.

The ministry set the expiration date of the license at three years and made its prior approval compulsory for any transfers and acquisitions of business licenses in a bid to discourage an inflow of foreign hot money.

As many as four other foreign casino operators such as Universal Entertainment are reportedly interested in obtaining a casino license in South Korea.

Paradise Group, the country's biggest casino operator, plans to complete its facilities in Yeongjongdo by 2017, with Grand Korea Leisure, a casino unit of the state-run Korea Tourism Organization (KTO), also seeking to set up a business in the island city.

As of March, 16 foreigner-exclusive casinos were operating in the country, with only Kangwon Land, located in Jeongson, Gangwon Province, some 214 kilometers east of Seoul, open to South Koreans.

State tallies showed over 2.7 million people visited the foreigner-only casinos last year, with their combined sales at 1.37 trillion won.