GGRAsia – GKL, Paradise Co extend casino closures amid pandemic

GKL, Paradise Co extend casino closures amid pandemic

Dec 29, 2020 Newsdesk Latest News, Rest of Asia, Top of the deck

Grand Korea Leisure Co Ltd (GKL), an operator in South Korea of foreigner-only casinos, says closure of its two Seoul venues and one Busan venue will be extended until 9am on January 4, from a prior end date of 9am on Tuesday (December 29).

As a result, the firm has also upped its estimate of lost sales, to KRW16 billion (US$14.6 million), from KRW13.6 billion.

The group gave the news in a Monday filing to the Korea Exchange.

The same day, Paradise Co Ltd, another operator of foreigner-only casinos in that nation, told the bourse that its Paradise Casino Walkerhill, in Seoul, would extend its closure period from an original end date of 6am on Tuesday, to 7am on January 4.

Paradise Co’s Walkerhill site had earlier closed on December 15.

The Grand Korea Leisure sites staying shuttered until January 4 are Gangnam COEX and Gangbuk Hilton (pictured) in Seoul, and Busan Lotte in the southern port city of Busan.

The Seoul sites had closed on a temporary basis on November 24. The Busan venue had shut down on December 1.

Grand Korea Leisure said that the reason for the extended Seoul closures was “due to the upgrade to Level 2.5 in the metropolitan area” regarding Covid-19 social distancing measures, and “the maintenance of Level 2” protocols in Busan.

The group’s new forecast for lost sales due to the further suspension of operations was based on average daily net sales from July to September.

Grand Korea Leisure is a subsidiary of the Korea Tourism Organization, which in turn is affiliated to South Korea’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

South Korea has seen a sharp increase in Covid-19 cases over the past several weeks. According to the country’s Ministry of Health and Welfare, as of 12am on Tuesday, the country had recorded 1,046 new cases of Covid-19 and 40 more deaths in the prior 24 hours, taking the national tally of confirmed cases to 58,725, including an aggregate of 859 fatalities.