GGRAsia – Kangwon Land extends casino closure to Sept 21

Kangwon Land extends casino closure to Sept 21

Sep 04, 2020 Newsdesk Latest News, Rest of Asia, Top of the deck

Kangwon Land Inc, the promoter of Kangwon Land (pictured), the only casino resort in South Korea where the country’s nationals are allowed to gamble, has extended until 6am on September 21, the temporary closure of its gaming facilities. Previously, it said the shutdown would last until September 7. The extension comes as South Korea continues to apply community measures to contain Covid-19 infections.

The Kangwon Land site had first been shuttered earlier in February, near the start of the pandemic emergency. It resumed some casino operations in May, but only for VIP areas, rather than the main floor. Closure had been reactivated on August 23, amid a spike of infections nationally.

In a Friday filing to the Korea Exchange, Kangwon Land said it expected lost casino sales – for the period from 10am on August 23, to 6am on September 21 – to amount to KRW36.4 billion (US$30.6 million), based on daily-average casino sales during the first half of 2020.

The Kangwon Land resort is about 150 kilometres (93 miles) from the country’s capital Seoul.

Authorities in South Korea decided on Friday to extend for another week, enhanced measures against the spread of Covid-19. The steps include limitations – within the metropolitan area of the capital, Seoul – on the operations of restaurants, bakeries and franchise coffee chains.

As applied to the capital, the steps are known as “Level 2.5” social distancing guidelines, news agency Yonhap reported, referring to the fact that the capital has enhancements to the “Level 2″ rules applicable for the nation as a whole.

Under the “Level 2” protocol, any outdoor gatherings of more than 100 people are banned. Indoor meetings of 50 or more people are prohibited.

As of 12am on Friday, South Korea had recorded 198 new Covid-19 cases in the preceding 24 hours, taking the national tally of infections to 20,842.

A total of 15,783 people had already been discharged from “isolation”, but 331 people had died in that country from the disease. That is according to a dedicated website of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.