Casino sales in November at Grand Korea Leisure Co Ltd (GKL), an operator in South Korea of foreigner-only casinos, fell by 2.6 percent month-on-month, to KRW27.89 billion (US$21.2 million), the company said in a Tuesday filing to the Korea Exchange. The latest monthly tally was down 1.1 percent from the prior-year period.
In November, table-game sales were approximately KRW24.88 billion, down 2.6 percent sequentially, and a decline of 2.7 percent from a year ago. Machine-game sales were just above KRW3.01 billion, 3.2-percent lower from October, but up 15.2 percent from 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 (pictured). The company is a subsidiary of the Korea Tourism Organization, which in turn is affiliated to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
Grand Korea Leisure’s casino sales for the first 11 months this year totalled KRW362.40 billion, an increase of 54.5 percent from the prior-year period.
Table-game sales were just above KRW328.28 billion in the 11 months to November 30, up 55.9 percent year-on-year; while machine-game sales rose by 41.7 percent, to KRW34.12 billion.
The company’s cumulative amount of “drop” – money paid by customers to purchase gaming chips for table games and slots – reached nearly KRW3.03 trillion for the first 11 months of this year, up by 74.2 percent year-on-year, according to the firm’s filing.
In November alone, the casino firm’s “drop” amounted to KRW277.25 billion, up by 8.3 percent from a year ago but down by 10.8 percent from the previous month.
