THE Mohegan Native American tribe spent US$1.6bil and almost a decade building a gambling resort near Seoul with three five-star hotels, a 15,000-seat arena and a water park so lavish that Netflix chose it as the setting for a hit dating show.
Inspire Entertainment Resort was Mohegan’s first casino project outside North America, designed to tap a lucrative market of Chinese gamblers, who spent US$28bil on games in Macau in 2024.
While the Chinese territory dominates the global gambling market, Inspire was set to be one of Asia’s largest high-end establishments of its kind.
But going all-in on a casino resort in the region proved a risky bet for the tribe.
Less than a year after Inspire’s 2024 grand opening, a missed performance target caused Mohegan to lose control of the project.
Now private equity giant Bain Capital, rather than the tribe, holds the reins.
A gamble from the start
Mohegan operates some of the biggest casinos in the United States.
Its flagship property, Mohegan Sun in Connecticut, is a widely recognised casino and major events venue that has hosted performers including Dolly Parton, Taylor Swift and Jay-Z. The casino made the tribe US$260mil last year.
Eyeing global expansion, Mohegan considered resorts in Greece and Japan before settling on South Korea, where it obtained a licence in 2016.
South Korean citizens cannot legally gamble except at one government-managed casino resort, meaning all of Inspire’s casino customers would have to be foreigners.
But Mohegan executives saw an untapped Asian market for a casino near Incheon International Airport, one of the world’s busiest travel hubs, with frequent flights to Beijing, Shanghai and Tokyo.
Of particular interest were the millions of Chinese travellers visiting South Korea each year.
South Korean officials had long hoped to develop an alternative tourist destination to Macau, the Chinese territory known as the world’s gambling capital.
Inspire had the potential to be “transformational” for Mohegan, company executives told JPMorgan investors in 2016. Mohegan declined to respond to repeated requests for specific details about Inspire.
The tribe ultimately committed more than US$1bil to the project, including US$300mil in cash.
Bain Capital also saw a good investment. In 2021, its subsidiary and other financial institutions signed a US$275mil loan agreement to help Mohegan finance Inspire, according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
For all its ambition, however, a project as large as Inspire needed many things to go right.
Construction did not begin until 2019, while rising building costs cut into revenues. Then international tourism plummeted when the Covid-19 pandemic hit. Labour shortages added to the problems.
The opening, initially set for 2022, was postponed.
“It was just a string of bad luck,” said Steve Gallaway, a consultant who worked on Inspire after its opening. “The projected returns were never a grand slam.”
There was a soft launch in November 2023, when Mohegan opened Inspire’s hotel rooms, convention centre, restaurants and arena. But the casino did not open until February 2024.
“They misjudged how quickly they could get this up and running and underestimated the challenges of going international at that scale,” said Robert Heller, a gambling consultant in New York state.
Mohegan became the first Native American tribe to own and operate a casino in Asia.
But after the resort opened, it repeatedly reported low casino profits and high operational costs.
The resort lost about US$104mil in its first year of operations, according to an audit submitted to the South Korean government.
The takeover
On Feb 13, 2025, Mohegan delivered a quarterly earnings report. Although it had never missed a loan payment, the results fell short of earnings targets.
On the same day, Bain called in its loan two years early.
The move came after the shortfall breached a financing covenant, according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential matters.
About a year after Inspire’s grand opening, Bain seized control of the resort.
Bain describes itself as a “long-term partner” for Inspire and has stressed its commitment to the project.
But the loan call was a shock to Mohegan, which said in its 2025 annual report that it had no intention of abandoning Inspire.
Analysts noted that a project of that scale could not be expected to turn a profit so soon after opening.
“I don’t think Inspire performed more poorly than other resorts across the globe,” said Keith Whyte, a gambling industry consultant.
After the takeover, things slowly turned around. Under new management, gambling revenues rose 150% while visitor numbers increased by 50%.
The resort reported a pretax profit for the first time last year, for the six months ending in October 2025.
The company that envisioned the glitzy complex is no longer around to enjoy the results.
Publicly, Mohegan is projecting confidence about its business strategy.
It told investors in December that, even after losing control of the South Korean resort, it was healthier than ever, pointing to the success of its North American operations.
There are signs, however, that Mohegan is not completely out of the picture.
It and Bain have maintained a professional relationship and engaged in informal conversations, according to the two people familiar with the matter.
For now, Inspire’s prestige is growing.
The resort recently served as the luxurious “paradise” destination for successful matches in the fifth season of Single’s Inferno, a hit South Korean dating show on Netflix. Contestants dined in the resort’s opulent suites and swam in its private outdoor pools.
It is a fitting showcase for a resort that promised to put Mohegan on the Asian gambling map – even if the tribe no longer owns the bet. — ©2026 The New York Times Company
This article originally appeared in The New York Times
