Casino sales in August at Grand Korea Leisure Co Ltd (GKL), an operator in South Korea of foreigner-only casinos, jumped 114.7 percent month-on-month, to nearly KRW41.28 billion (US$30.8 million), the company said in a Monday filing to the Korea Exchange. The latest monthly tally was up 23.6 percent from the prior-year period.
In August, table-game sales were KRW38.10 billion, up 130.0 percent sequentially, and 26.2-percent higher from a year earlier.
Machine-game sales were nearly KRW3.18 billion, a 19.4-percent improvement sequentially, but almost flat from a year ago.
During August, Grand Korea Leisure had announced an interim dividend, its first since financial year 2019, the period immediately preceding the Covid-19 pandemic.
The August operational results took Grand Korea Leisure’s aggregate casino sales for the first eight months of this year to KRW253.97 billion, a decline of 7.1 percent year-on-year.
Accumulated table game sales for the calendar year to August 31 were KRW229.95 billion, down 7.2 percent year-on-year. Aggregate machine-game sales were KRW23.12 billion, down 6.8 percent on the first eight 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. 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 KRW330.84 billion for August, up 8.9 percent on July, and a 12.8-percent increase from August 2023.
The drop amount for January to August reached KRW2.49 trillion, up 17.0 percent year-on-year.
