Kangwon Land Inc, the operator of the only casino resort in South Korea where the country’s nationals are allowed to gamble, reported net income of KRW119.01 billion (US$106.8 million) for the third quarter of 2017, down by 4.3 percent from the prior-year period.
Revenue from sales declined by 9.8 percent year-on-year to KRW395.07 billion in the three months to September 30, the company said in a filing to the Korea Exchange on Wednesday.
Operating income for the three-month period went down by 14.9 percent year-on-year to KRW137.64 billion, Kangwon Land reported.
For the first nine months of 2017, the casino operator reported accumulated net income of KRW359.22 billion, down by 8.1 percent from the prior-year period.
South Korea currently has 18 casinos, but the country’s nationals are only allowed to gamble at Kangwon Land casino resort (pictured) in an upland area of Kangwon province – 150 kilometres (93 miles) from the country’s capital Seoul.
Brokerage JP Morgan Securities (Asia Pacific) Ltd said in an August note that the casino operator had been under political pressure to moderate the growth of its revenue. The very existence of a casino that allows South Koreans to gamble on home soil is a hotly debated topic in that country.
