Kangwon Land delays reopening of main casino floor

May 28, 2020 Newsdesk Latest News, Rest of Asia, Top of the deck  

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The promoter of Kangwon Land (pictured), the only casino resort in South Korea where the country’s nationals are allowed to gamble, has decided to postpone the reopening of the property’s main casino floor, due to a spike in Covid-19 infections in that country.

Kangwon Land Inc’s casino had closed on February 23 on a temporary basis as a precaution locally against the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. Due to repeated extensions to the shutdown period, a portion of the casino did not open again until May 8.

More areas of Kangwon Land’s gaming venue were scheduled for a phased reopening starting on Thursday (May 28), but the casino operator decided to delay such plans following a meeting of company executives on Wednesday, according to media reports.

South Korea reported its biggest daily surge in infections in seven weeks, as one of the country’s largest e-commerce companies battled an outbreak linked to a now-closed logistics facility. The nation reported 40 new cases for Tuesday, the biggest one-day increase since April 8, according to data from the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

It took the total tally to 11,265 cases while the virus-linked deaths remain at 269, showed the official data.

Kangwon Land Inc said earlier this month that maximum daily opening hours and maximum mass table games numbers at its property had been restored to 2018 levels. Under the changes, the casino can be open for 20 hours a day, instead of the 18 that had been allowed. The number of tables for table games can be increased to 180 from 160.

The casino operator swung to a loss of KRW156.1 billion (US$126.1 million) in the first quarter of 2020, compared to a KRW102.4-billion profit in the prior-year quarter.

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