Paradise Co Ltd, an operator in South Korea of foreigner-only casinos, has since November 30 required all customers at its Paradise Casino Walkerhill venue (pictured) in Seoul, to show evidence of a negative test for Covid-19 infection.
The certificate must be issued by either health agencies or hospitals, according to the venue’s website.
The corporate relations team at Paradise Co told GGRAsia that Paradise Walkerhill’s Covid-19 test rule was a result of “flexible” management at a local level, and was a preemptive action. This accounted for why other Paradise Co venues were not requiring such a test, added the firm.
As reported by South Korean media – citing the national authorities – casinos in cities outside the greater Seoul region are required with effect from 12am on Tuesday (December 1), until December 14, to limit the number of guests to 20 percent of each casino’s maximum capacity.
The requirement coincides with the South Korean government’s tightening of so-called social-distancing protocols from what is known locally as “Level 1”, to “Level 1.5”, in order to stem an uptick of Covid-19 infections nationwide.
Under Level 1.5, Kangwon Land Inc, a publicly-listed state-owned enterprise – which operates Kangwon Land Inc in an upland area away from the capital, the only casino in South Korea permitted to offer bets to locals – has limited the daily number of guests to 1,200 from 10am on December 1.
Kangwon Land had previously – from October 12 – been limiting the daily tally of guests to 2,000, based on the operating hours of 10am to 6am the following day.
As of 12am on Thursday, South Korea had 540 new Covid-19 cases in 24 hours, taking the country’s confirmed tally to 35,703, including 529 deaths, and 28,352 people released from quarantine, according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare.
