Yoo Tae-Yeol has been appointed as the new chief executive of South Korean casino operator Grand Korea Leisure Ltd. The announcement was made by the company in a Wednesday filing to the Korea Exchange.
Mr Yoo’s official appointment was effective immediately, the filing stated.
GKL is a subsidiary of the Korea Tourism Organization, which in turn is affiliated to South Korea’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. The casino operating entity runs three foreigner-only casinos in South Korea under the Seven Luck brand: two in the capital Seoul and one in the southern port city of Busan.
The casino operator saw its first-quarter net income fall by 1 percent year-on-year to approximately KRW17.35 billion (US$15.5 million).
Brokerage JP Morgan Securities (Asia Pacific) Ltd said in a May note that GKL’s first quarter gaming metrics had been “lacklustre”, as “VIP remained a drag … with weaknesses across all nationalities” in terms of the customer base.
