Grand Korea Leisure Co Ltd (GKL), an operator in South Korea of foreigner-only casinos, said its casino sales rose 13.7 percent month-on-month in July.
Such sales were just above KRW14.19 billion (US$11.9 million), compared to KRW12.48 billion in June, said the company in a Tuesday filing. Nonetheless, July casino sales were still down 65.5 percent relative to July 2019, when they were just under KRW41.12 billion.
GKL experienced a 43-day shutdown of its casino operations, from March 24 until May 6, as part of South Korea’s countermeasures against the local spread of Covid-19.
Since April 1, travellers to South Korea have been required to undergo a 14-day quarantine on arrival, according to a dedicated Covid-19 information website maintained by the national government. According to industry commentary, some of the players at the country’s foreigner-only casinos are South Korean nationals that hold at least one other passport.
GKL is a subsidiary of the Korea Tourism Organization, which in turn is affiliated to South Korea’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
The casino-operating entity runs three foreigner-only casinos in South Korea under the Seven Luck brand: two in the capital Seoul and one in the southern port city of Busan.
For July, GKL’s table game sales were nearly KRW11.67 billion, up 11.6 percent from the previous month, but down 67.9 percent from the prior-year period.
July’s machine game sales rose by 24.5 percent sequentially, to nearly KRW2.53 billion. But they were down 46.9 percent from a year earlier, according to Tuesday’s filing.
GKL’s accumulated casino sales for the calendar year to July 31 were down 44.9 percent to KRW147.26 billion, compared to KRW267.11 billion in the first seven months of 2019.
Table game sales for the January to July period were KRW129.81 billion, a decline of 44.2 percent from the prior-year period, while machine game sales fell by 49.5 percent, to nearly KRW17.45 billion.
