Casino sales at the Jeju Dream Tower casino resort (pictured), on the South Korean holiday island of Jeju, decreased by 10.9 percent month-on-month in August, to approximately KRW17.90 billion (US$13.5 million), according to a Tuesday filing to the Korea Exchange. Judged year-on-year, such sales were up 352.8 percent.
Jeju Dream Tower’s July casino sales at its foreigner-only gaming operation, had been just above KRW20.09 billion, and marked a monthly record for the casino since it opened in June 2021, according to financial data published on the website of the resort’s operator, Lotte Tour Development Co Ltd.
The property’s casino sales are reported after deduction of rebates and commissions.
In August, table-game sales were just above KRW15.90 billion, down 9.2 percent from the previous month but up 377.4 percent from a year ago, a period when tourism to the island was still affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. August machine-game sales stood at approximately KRW2.0 billion, down 22.4 percent sequentially but up 221.3 percent from a year ago.
The August amount of “casino table drop” – paid by customers to purchase chips for table games – was approximately KRW132.75 billion, up 1.9 percent sequentially, and 210.0 percent higher than a year ago.
Hotel sales for August were approximately KRW10.54 billion, up 8.8 percent month-on-month, but decreased by 11.0 percent from the same month a year ago.
The firm gave no commentary on the reasons for the variations.
Casino sales for the first eight months this year totalled nearly KRW86.03 billion, up 171.0 percent from the prior-year period.
Table-game sales were KRW77.07 billion in the year to August 31, up 169.8 percent year-on-year; while machine-game sales rose by 182.7 percent, to nearly KRW8.95 billion.
The cumulative casino table drop for the first eight months of this year amounted to nearly KRW784.41 billion, up 207.2 percent from the prior-year period.
Hotel sales in the January to August period stood at approximately KRW61.36 billion, a 24.8-percent decline from the prior-year period.
