Casino sales in August at Grand Korea Leisure Co Ltd (GKL), an operator in South Korea of foreigner-only casinos, fell 10.1 percent from July, and declined 75.9 percent judged year-on-year, the firm said in a Thursday filing to the Korea Exchange.
The result was a softening from July, which had seen casino sales rise 13.7 percent month-on-month, and moderate to a 65.5 percent decline judged year-on-year.
South Korea is presently at level two of its countermeasures against Covid-19, after a recent uptick in infections in the nation. Among the country’s foreigner-only casinos, at least one, Paradise City, a venture between Paradise Co Ltd and a unit of Japan’s Sega Sammy Holdings Inc, is currently shuttered due to an on-site outbreak of the disease.
Grand Korea Leisure’s August 2020 casino sales were nearly KRW12.76 billion (US$10.7 million), compared to KRW14.19 billion in July, and KRW53.01 billion in August 2019.
Table-game revenue for the latest reporting period was nearly KRW11.04 billion, down 5.4 percent from the almost KRW11.67 billion achieved in July, and down 76.9 percent on the KRW47.85 billion seen in August last year.
August’s machine-game sales were KRW1.72 billion, a month-on-month decline of 31.9 percent, and a 66.7-percent contraction on the almost KRW5.16 billion recorded in August 2019.
The August data meant that cumulative casino sales for the first eight months of 2020 were just under KRW160.02 billion, a fall of 50.0 percent on the nearly KRW320.13-billion aggregated in the first eight months of 2019.
Cumulative table-game sales this year so far were almost KRW140.85 billion, compared to KRW280.38 billion in the same period of 2019, a deterioration of 49.8 percent.
Accumulated year-to-date machine-game sales were KRW19.17 billion, down 51.8 percent year-on-year from 2019’s KRW39.74 billion.
Grand Korea Leisure 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.
