Casino sales at the Jeju Dream Tower casino resort (pictured), on the South Korean holiday island of Jeju, increased by 95.3 percent month-on-month in July, to nearly KRW20.12 billion (US$15.5 million), according to a Wednesday filing to the Korea Exchange. Judged year-on-year, such sales were up 516.8 percent.
Jeju Dream Tower’s July sales at its foreigner-only casino were a monthly record since the time the gaming facility opened in June 2021, show historical financial data published on the website of the resort’s operator, Lotte Tour Development Co Ltd.
The property’s casino sales are reported after deduction of rebates and commissions.
In July, table-game sales were approximately KRW17.53 billion, up 86.4 percent from the previous month and 557.1 percent from a year ago, a period when tourism to the island was still affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. July machine-game sales stood at nearly KRW2.59 billion, up 188.3 percent sequentially and 335.9 percent higher year-on-year.
The July amount of “casino table drop” – paid by customers to purchase chips for table games – were approximately KRW130.28 billion, up 25.5 percent sequentially and 429.7 percent higher than a year ago.
Hotel sales for July were nearly KRW9.68 billion, an increase of 9.6 percent from the previous month, but down 13.9 percent from a year ago.
The firm gave no commentary on the reasons for the variations.
Casino sales for the first seven months this year totalled nearly KRW68.15 billion, up 145.3 percent from the prior-year period.
Table-game sales were KRW61.19 billion in the year to July 31, up 142.4 percent year-on-year; while machine-game sales rose by 173.4 percent, to nearly KRW6.96 billion.
The cumulative casino table drop for the first seven months of this year amounted to approximately KRW651.66 billion, up 206.6 percent from the prior-year period.
Hotel sales in the January to July period stood at KRW50.80 billion, a 27.2-percent decline from the prior-year period.
