Casino sales in October at Grand Korea Leisure Co Ltd (GKL), an operator in South Korea of foreigner-only casinos, were 11.0-percent lower month-on-month, to nearly KRW30.54 billion (US$22.2 million), the company said in a Monday filing to the Korea Exchange.
The latest monthly tally was nonetheless up 6.6 percent from the prior-year period.
In October, table-game sales were KRW27.80 billion, down 12.0 percent sequentially, but up 0.7 percent from a year earlier.
Machine-game sales in October were KRW2.73 billion, slightly up sequentially, but down 12.1 percent from a year ago.
The October operational results took Grand Korea Leisure’s aggregate casino sales for the first 10 months this year to nearly KRW317.93 billion, a decline of 5.0 percent year-on-year.
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 is a subsidiary of the Korea Tourism Organization, which in turn is affiliated to the country’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
In the 10 months to October 31, Seoul Gangnam Casino was the largest contributor to group-wide casino sales, according to separate operational data filed by the firm. Seoul Gangnam Casino generated nearly KRW141.48 billion in casino sales in the January to October period, while Seoul Dragon City Casino recorded KRW129.43 billion and Busan Lotte Casino reached KRW47.02 billion.
Grand Korea Leisure’s amount of “drop” – money paid by customers to purchase gaming chips – was nearly KRW313.07 billion for October, up 12.7 percent sequentially but flat from the prior-year period.
The drop amount for January to October reached almost KRW3.08 trillion, a 12.1-percent increase year-on-year. Of that tally, about 70.3 percent – or nearly KRW2.17 trillion – was marked as “VIP” drop amounts, according to company’s data.
