Kangwon Land (pictured), the only casino resort in South Korea permitted to offer bets to locals, will reduce its casino’s maximum daily guest capacity to 1,800, i.e., 30 percent of the 6,000-visitor pre-pandemic levels, from 10am on Thursday (July 15), according to a representative at Kangwon Land in response to GGRAsia’s telephone enquiry on Tuesday.
The casino had already been at reduced capacity: 2,300 guest visits per day. Kangwon Land has been drawing lots among the public, for the newly-reduced daily places, the resort representative stated.
The person added that Kangwon Land’s decision further to reduce the daily capacity coincided with a tightening of social distancing rules, to “Level 2” for Gangwon province, where Kangwon Land sits. Level 2 will take effect from 12am on Thursday to July 31, in an effort to stem the spread of Covid-19.
According to South Korean news outlets, Gangwon province’s decision was due to a recent fourth wave of Covid-19 cases in the Greater Seoul area, a neighbouring region of Gangwon province.
As of 12am on Tuesday, Gangwon province had recorded 19 new Covid-19 cases in 24 hours, taking the province’s tally to 3,754 infections, with 53 fatalities, since the onset of the crisis last year, according to the Gangwon province website.
The Kangwon Land resort is in an eastern remote upland area outside the capital Seoul.
Five school pupils that subsequently tested positive for Covid-19, had stayed at the High 1 condominium in the Kangwon Land complex from July 3 to 4.
Another Kangwon Land representative had stated regarding GGRAsia’s previous phone enquiries, that since the people concerned had not visited Kangwon Land’s casino areas, the situation had not affected gaming operations.
