Casino sales in June at Grand Korea Leisure Co Ltd (GKL), an operator in South Korea of foreigner-only casinos, rose by 16.7 percent month-on-month, to about KRW29.55 billion (US$22.6 million), the company said in a Monday filing to the Korea Exchange. The latest monthly tally was up 20.8 percent from the prior-year period.
During June, table-game sales were approximately KRW26.53 billion, up 21.4 percent sequentially and up 19.8 percent from a year ago. Machine-game sales were nearly KRW3.02 billion, down 12.9 percent month-on-month, but 31.3-percent higher than a year earlier.
The company gave no commentary on the reasons for either change.
Grand Korea Leisure runs three foreigner-only Seven Luck-branded casinos: two in the capital Seoul, including in Gangnam, and one in the southeastern port city of Busan. The company is a subsidiary of the Korea Tourism Organization, which in turn is affiliated to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
The casino operator’s Gangnam casino generated KRW61.23 billion in net casino sales in the first quarter, and KRW50.82 billion in the second quarter, making it the biggest contributor to the company’s latest results, according to a separate set of revenue figures the group lodged on its official website.
Grand Korea Leisure’s casino sales for the first six months this year totalled KRW208.03 billion, an increase of 119.6 percent from the prior-year period.
Table-game sales were nearly KRW189.77 billion in the six months to June 30, up 126.9 percent year-on-year; while machine-game sales rose by 64.6 percent, to KRW18.26 billion.
The company’s cumulative amount of “drop” – money paid by customers to purchase gaming chips for table games and slots – reached KRW1.59 trillion for the first six months of this year, up by 135.4 percent year-on-year, according to the firm’s filing. In June alone, the casino firm’s “drop” amounted to KRW252.15 billion, up by 76.1 percent from a year ago but down by 12.3 percent from the previous month.
