Casino sales in September at Grand Korea Leisure Co Ltd (GKL), an operator in South Korea of foreigner-only casinos, increased by 3.0 percent year-on-year, to nearly KRW34.32 billion (US$25.7 million), the company said in a Friday filing to the Korea Exchange.
The latest monthly tally was however down 16.9 percent from the prior-month period.
In September, table-game sales were KRW31.60 billion, down 17.1 percent sequentially, and 4.9-percent higher from a year earlier.
Machine-game sales were nearly KRW2.72 billion, a 14.6-percent decline sequentially, and down 15.1 percent from a year ago.
The September operational results took Grand Korea Leisure’s aggregate casino sales for the first nine months of this year to KRW287.39 billion, a decline of 6.0 percent year-on-year.
Accumulated table game sales for the calendar year to September 30 were KRW261.56 billion, down 5.9 percent year-on-year. Aggregate machine-game sales were KRW25.84 billion, down 7.7 percent on the first nine months of 2023.
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 in a file photo). The company gave no commentary on the reasons for any of the changes.
The company is a subsidiary of the Korea Tourism Organization, which in turn is affiliated to the country’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
Grand Korea Leisure’s amount of “drop” – money paid by customers to purchase gaming chips – was nearly KRW277.68 billion for September, down 16.1 percent on August, and a 10.5-percent decrease from September 2023.
The drop amount for January to September reached almost KRW2.77 trillion, up 13.5 percent year-on-year.
In August, Grand Korea Leisure announced an interim dividend, its first since financial year 2019, the period immediately preceding the Covid-19 pandemic.
