Hong Kong-listed Landing International Development Ltd, the promoter of a foreigner-only gaming venue, Landing Casino (pictured in a file photo), inside the Jeju Shinhwa World resort on the South Korean holiday island of Jeju, has conducted what it terms a “voluntary retirement” exercise among casino staff.
According to a company spokesman reached by GGRAsia via telephone on Wednesday, 100 such workers applied to take part. The scheme ran from September 23 to October 5.
Those involved were offered what the firm described as basic retirement pay and an additional pay-off.
The scheme was operated due to “the casino’s business deterioration,” because of the Covid-19 pandemic “continuing for around two years”, said the spokesperson.
A local labour group – Jeju Tourism Service Labour Union, Landing Casino Branch – has been complaining that the initiative amounted to “lay-offs”.
But the process was a “fair restructuring”, according to a Landing International Development representative.
Several Jeju news outlets had reported on Tuesday, that the union side held a press conference on October 1 and 19 respectively, complaining that the management had been forcing retirement on employees.
Landing Casino’s sales in 2020 were KRW42.35 billion (US$36.1 million), down 32.2 percent year-on-year, on the KRW62.45 billion achieved in 2019, according to data released in May this year, by South Korea’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. It uses a slightly different accounting method than the listed operator.
Landing International Development’s net loss for full-year 2020 was approximately HKD2.12 billion (US$272.7 million at current exchange rates).
According to the ministry, in 2020, Landing Casino received 55,075 unique guests, a decrease of 35.9 percent year-on-year, on the 85,884 such visits in full-year 2019.
