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 7, the temporary closure of the casino, due to Covid-19 control measures.
The closure had been reactivated on August 23, amid a spike of infections nationally. The return to shutdown had followed a respite for VIP operations, that lasted from May.
The firm said in a Friday filing to the Korea Exchange that it expected lost casino sales – for the period from 10am on August 23 to 6am on September 7 – to amount to KRW18.8 billion (US$15.8 million), based on daily-average casino sales during the first half of 2020.
Kangwon Land Inc first closed its casino for Covid-19 related reasons in late February, due to the spread of infections in South Korea. The Kangwon Land resort is about 150 kilometres (93 miles) from the country’s capital Seoul.
During August, South Korea said it was moving to “level-two” for so-called “social distancing”, as a way of stemming an uptick in Covid-19 cases. The firm said the extension of the casino-closure period was in line with the country’s level-two protocol.
As of 12am on Monday, South Korea had recorded 248 new Covid-19 cases in the preceding 24 hours, taking the national tally of infections to 19,947. A total of 14,973 people had already been “released from quarantine” and 324 people had died in that country from the disease. That is according to a dedicated website of South Korea’s Ministry of Health and Welfare.
