The Mohegan Native American tribe spent $1.6 billion and almost a decade building a gambling venue near Seoul with three five-star hotels, a 15,000-seat arena and a water park so lavish that Netflix chose to film a hit dating show there.

莫西干美国原住民部落斥资16亿美元、耗时近10年，在首尔附近建造了一座综合博彩度假村，包括三家五星级酒店、一座有1.5万个座位的综艺馆，以及一座豪华到连奈飞都选择在那里拍摄热门恋爱真人秀的水上乐园。

The Inspire Entertainment Resort was Mohegan’s first casino project outside North America, one designed to tap into a lucrative market of Chinese gamblers, who spent $28 billion on games in 2024 in Macau. While that Chinese territory dominates the global gambling market, Inspire was set to become one of the largest high-end establishments of its kind in Asia. But going all-in on a casino resort in the region proved to be a risky bet for the tribe.

迎仕柏度假城(Inspire)是莫西干在北美以外的首个赌场项目，原本是为了瞄准利润丰厚的中国赌客市场——2024年，中国赌客在澳门的博彩消费达到280亿美元。尽管澳门这片中国领土主导着全球博彩市场，但迎仕柏本有望成为亚洲规模最大的高端赌场度假村之一。然而，事实证明，对莫西干来说，在该地区全力投资赌场度假村是一场冒险的赌博。

Less than a year after Inspire’s 2024 grand opening, a missed performance target caused Mohegan to lose control of the project. Now another investor, the private equity giant Bain Capital, rather than the tribe, holds the reins.

迎仕柏于2024年盛大开幕，不足一年，由于未能达到业绩目标，莫西干部落失去了对该项目的控制权。如今，接掌控制权的是另一位投资方——私募股权巨头贝恩资本。

A South Korea casino was a gamble from the start.

从一开始，在韩国开赌场就是一场豪赌。

Mohegan operates some of the biggest casinos in the United States. Mohegan Sun, its flagship property on the tribe’s reservation in Connecticut, is a widely recognized casino with billboards across the Northeast and a major events venue that has hosted performances by Dolly Parton, Taylor Swift and Jay-Z. The casino made the tribe $260 million last year.

莫西干经营着美国一些规模最大的赌场。位于康涅狄格州该部落保留地上的旗舰物业金神大赌场(Mohegan Sun)广为人知，在美国东北部各地都能看到它的广告牌；这里还是大型演出场地，曾举办过多莉·帕顿、泰勒·斯威夫特和Jay-Z等艺人的演出。去年，这家赌场为部落带来了2.6亿美元收入。

Eyeing global expansion, Mohegan considered several proposals, including resorts in Greece and Japan. It settled on South Korea, where it obtained a license in 2016 to build a casino.

着眼全球扩张，莫西干考察了多个方案，包括在希腊和日本开发度假村，最终选定韩国，并于2016年取得了在当地开赌场的牌照。

莫西干历时10年、斥资16亿美元打造了这座度假城。这个原住民部落拥有位于康涅狄格州的旗舰物业金神大赌场。度假城主厅中的动态吊灯。

In South Korea, citizens cannot legally gamble anywhere except at one government-managed casino resort. That meant that all of Inspire’s casino customers would have to be foreign.

在韩国，除了一家政府运营的赌场度假村外，本国公民在其他任何地方赌博均属违法。这意味着迎仕柏的赌场顾客只能是外国人。

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, short flights to Beijing, Shanghai and Tokyo. Of particular interest were the millions of Chinese travelers who were visiting South Korea each year when work on Inspire began.

但莫希干高管认为，在仁川国际机场附近建赌场，面向的是一个尚未开发的亚洲市场。仁川机场是全球最繁忙的交通枢纽之一，有频繁的短途航班往返北京、上海和东京。尤其令他们感兴趣的是，在迎仕柏动工之时，每年有数以百万计中国游客到访韩国。

South Korean officials said over the years that they hoped to develop an alternative tourist destination to Macau, the Chinese territory widely known as the world’s gambling capital. Macau recorded a decline in casino revenues in the 2010s as it was rocked by a government crackdown on corruption.

多年来，韩国官员一直表示，希望打造一个能够与澳门媲美的旅游目的地。澳门这片中国领土被称为全球博彩之都。在2010年代，澳门受到中国政府反腐行动的冲击，赌场收入出现下滑。

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.

2016年，莫西干的高管在向摩根大通投资者的路演中表示，迎仕柏有潜力成为莫西干的“变革性”机遇。莫西干方面多次拒绝就迎仕柏的具体细节作出回应。

Mohegan said that it ultimately committed more than $1 billion to the project, including $300 million in cash. Bain Capital also saw a good investment. In 2021, a Bain subsidiary and other financial institutions signed a $275 million loan agreement to help Mohegan finance Inspire, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

莫西干表示，最终它向该项目投入逾10亿美元，其中包括3亿美元现金。贝恩资本也认为这是一个不错的投资机会。根据提交给美国证券交易委员会的一份文件，2021年，贝恩旗下的一家子公司与其他金融机构签署了一项2.75亿美元的贷款协议，帮助莫西干为迎仕柏提供融资。

“It was certainly a risky move on behalf of Mohegan,” said Andrew Tottenham, a gambling industry consultant in London. “If you’re not getting local people getting to play, you are dependent totally on foreigners staying in your hotel or hotels nearby.”

伦敦博彩业顾问安德鲁·托特纳姆表示：“对莫希根而言，这无疑是一步险棋。如果当地人不来玩，你就完全依赖入住你的酒店或附近酒店的外国人。”

一处餐饮区。

For all its ambition, 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 pandemic hit. There were labor shortages, too.

尽管公司雄心勃勃，但像迎仕柏这样庞大的项目需要诸多因素都顺利推进。工程直到2019年才开工，而不断上涨的建设成本侵蚀了项目收益。随后，新冠疫情暴发，国际旅游业骤降。与此同时，劳动力也出现短缺。

The opening, initially set for 2022, was postponed.

原定于2022年开业的计划被迫推迟。

“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.”

开业后参与该项目的顾问史蒂夫·加洛韦表示：“这就是一连串的坏运气。而且这个项目原本预期的回报也从来没有高到令人惊艳的程度。”

There was a soft launch in November 2023, when Mohegan opened Inspire’s hotel rooms, convention center, restaurants and arena. But the casino, a main moneymaker, did not open until February 2024.

2023年11月，迎仕柏的酒店客房、会议中心、餐厅和综艺馆场进行了试营业。但作为主要收入来源的赌场直到2024年2月才正式营业。

“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.

"他们低估了要让这个项目顺利运转所需的时间，也低估了以这种规模进军国际市场所面临的挑战，"纽约州的博彩顾问罗伯特·赫勒说。

When Mohegan fell short, Bain moved in.

当莫西干未达预期时，贝恩资本接手。

Mohegan became the first Native American Tribe to own and operate a casino in Asia.

莫西干成为首个在亚洲拥有并运营赌场的美国原住民部落。

But after the resort opened, Mohegan repeatedly reported low casino profits and high operational costs at Inspire. The resort lost about $104 million in its first year of operations, according to an audit submitted to the South Korean government.

但度假村开业后，莫希干多次报告迎仕柏的赌场利润低下、运营成本高昂。根据提交给韩国政府的一份审计报告，该度假村在运营第一年亏损约1.04亿美元。

On Feb. 13, 2025, Mohegan delivered a quarterly earnings report. Although it had never missed a payment on its loans, the results fell short of earnings targets. On the same day, Bain called in its loan two years early. It said the shortfall had breached a financing covenant, according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss confidential matters. About a year after Inspire’s grand opening, Bain seized control of the resort.

2025年2月13日，莫西干发布季度财报。尽管贷款从未出现还款违约，但业绩结果未能达到收益目标。就在当天，贝恩资本提前两年催收贷款。据两位因讨论机密事宜而要求匿名的知情人士透露，贝恩资本表示这一业绩差距违反了融资契约条款。迎仕柏盛大开幕约一年后，贝恩资本夺取了度假村的控制权。

迎仕柏赌场的客人必须出示护照，证明自己非韩国公民。

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.

贝恩资本自称是迎仕柏的“长期合作伙伴”，并强调了对项目的持续承诺。但这次提前催贷令莫西干深感震惊，公司在2025年年报中明确表示，无意放弃迎仕柏。分析人士指出，如此规模的项目在开业后不久就实现盈利是不现实的。

“I don’t think Inspire performed more poorly than other resorts across the globe,” said Keith Whyte, a gambling industry consultant.

博彩业顾问基思·怀特表示：“我认为迎仕柏的表现并不比全球其他度假村差。”

After the takeover, things slowly turned around. Under new management, Inspire cut its losses and reported that gambling revenues rose 150 percent while visitor numbers increased by 50 percent. The resort reported a pretax profit for the first time last year, for the six months ending in October 2025.

易主之后，形势逐渐出现转机。在新管理层带领下，迎仕柏大幅减亏，报告显示博彩收入增长150%，访客数量增加50%。在截至2025年10月的六个月里，度假村首次录得税前盈利。

Sujin Yang, an Inspire spokeswoman, said that the resort steadied its business and projected continued growth without making major changes to its strategy or budget cuts. She said what the resort needed was time.

迎仕柏等发言人杨秀真（音）表示，度假村业务已趋于稳定，并预计将持续增长，无需对战略进行重大调整或削减预算。她表示，迎仕柏需要的是时间。

“For a project of this magnitude, it takes a few years to stabilize operations and start to see results,” she said.

“对于如此体量的项目，需要几年时间来稳定运营并开始看到成效，”她说。

The company that envisioned the glitzy complex is no longer around to enjoy the results.

但最初构想并打造这座奢华综合度假村的公司已经无法亲自享受这些成果。

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.

在公开场合，莫西干对其商业战略依然自信。它在去年12月告诉投资者，即使失去了韩国度假村的控制权，其财务状况比以往任何时候都更健康，并以北美业务的成功佐证这一判断。

And there are signs that Mohegan is not completely out of the picture when it comes to the Inspire resort. Mohegan and Bain have maintained a professional relationship and have engaged in some informal conversations, according to the two people familiar with the matter.

而且，有迹象表明，莫西干并没有完全退出迎仕柏项目。两名知情人士说，莫西干与贝恩资本一直保持着专业层面的关系，双方也进行过一些非正式沟通。

一处配有街机游戏的亲子娱乐区。

For now, Inspire’s prestige is growing. It 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. They dined in the resort’s opulent suites and swam in the private outdoor pools.

目前，迎仕柏的声望与日俱增。它最近成为网飞韩国热门恋爱真人秀《单身即地狱》第五季中成功配对情侣的奢华“天堂”目的地。他们在度假村豪华套房中用餐，在私人室外泳池中畅游。

Sung Kim, 40, who was in the casino to play blackjack and baccarat, said she had flown in from Macau, where she could not gamble because the resorts there didn’t offer child care for her 5-year-old son.

40岁的金善（音）在赌场玩21点和百家乐。她说自己是从澳门飞来的，因为在那里她没法赌博——当地赌场不提供儿童看护服务，而她有一个五岁的儿子。

“It’s close to the airport. It’s convenient. A huge plus is all the kids stuff,” said Ms. Kim’s sister, Shannon Park, 32. Besides the water park, Inspire offers cooking classes for children, climbing walls and an indoor trampoline park.

“这里离机场很近，非常方便。最大的加分项是有很多适合小孩子的设施，”金善的妹妹、32岁的香农·朴（音）说。除了水上乐园之外迎仕柏还为儿童提供烹饪课程、攀岩墙和室内蹦床公园。

Yu Jin, 36, who was visiting from northeastern China for the third time, said he was drawn by the “Aurora,” a dazzling 500-foot animated display that runs along the ceiling of a hallway at the resort. Videos of it were widely shared on Chinese social media.

36岁的于进（音）来自中国东北，这是他第三次来这里。他说，吸引他的是“极光”——度假村一条走廊的天花板有一块长达150米、绚丽夺目的动态影像屏幕。相关视频曾在中国社交媒体上广泛流传。

But Mr. Yu, who was holding a thick wad of bills near a baccarat table, said that he would soon be flying to Macau, where he said the rooms were better, the food was familiar and he could speak his own language.

然而，拿着一叠厚厚钞票站在百家乐桌旁的于进说，他很快就要飞去澳门了，他说那里的客房更好，食物更合口味，而且可以说中文。

“Everything is better in Macau,” he said.

“澳门哪哪都比这强，”他说。