Casino revenue at Paradise Co Ltd, which runs foreigner-only casinos in South Korea, fell by 14.4 percent sequentially to KRW61.61 billion (US$46.4 million) in September, the firm said in a Wednesday filing to the Korea Exchange. Judged year-on-year, such sales were 16.5 percent lower.
Revenue from table-games in September was just above KRW57.31 billion, down 14.8 percent month-on-month, and a 17.4-percent decline from a year earlier.
Machine-game sales decreased 8.9 percent sequentially, to just above KRW4.30 billion. Such revenue fell 2.0 percent from a year earlier.
Casino drop in September – money exchanged for chips at the gaming table – was nearly KRW563.58 billion, down 15.6 percent sequentially, and flat from a year ago.
Paradise Co directly operates three casino venues: Walkerhill in Seoul; Paradise Jeju on Jeju island; and a property in the port city of Busan.
The company also has a venture with Japan’s Sega Sammy Holdings Inc, for the Paradise City casino resort at Incheon, near South Korea’s main airport.
For the first nine months of 2024, casino revenue reached KRW614.53 billion, an 8.8-percent increase from the prior-year period. Casino drop for the nine months to September 30 stood at nearly KRW5.21 trillion, up 15.5 percent from the prior-year period.
Paradise Co opened in mid-September a new VIP play area at its existing Seoul gaming property, Paradise Walkerhill Casino. It is the result of a revamp of a buffet restaurant on the second floor of the Grand Walkerhill Seoul hotel.
It will enable Paradise Co to “gain significant competitive advantage as a leading casino operator”, according to the group’s chief executive, Choi Jong Hwan.
The casino firm reported in early August net income of nearly KRW14.55 billion for the second quarter of 2024, down 50.5 percent from the prior-year period. The firm said its second-quarter performance had been negatively affected by “increasing marketing costs”.
