Kangwon Land extends casino pause to May 4

Apr 17, 2020 Newsdesk Latest News, Rest of Asia, Top of the deck  

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Kangwon Land (pictured), the only casino resort in South Korea where the country’s nationals are allowed to gamble, has decided to extend – for a seventh time – the temporary closure of its gaming venue. It now says it will reopen at 6am on May 4, a date which would signify the resort having an almost two-and-a-half month of suspension for its gaming business.

The initial casino closure notice was described by the resort’s promoter, Kangwon Land Inc, as a precautionary measure related to the Covid-19 pandemic, which has severely affected the country.

Kangwon Land Inc had originally announced a temporary closure of the casino from noon on February 23 until 6am on February 26, and then extended that on six consecutive occasions, up to April 20.

The firm said in a Thursday filing – at the time it flagged the seventh extension to the closure – that it was anticipating its lost casino sales would amount to KRW261.1 billion (US$214.1 million) calculated from the start of the casino shuttering on February 23. The estimate was based on Kangwon Land’s daily casino revenue in full-year 2019, added the scheme’s promoter.

The company had previously flagged a shutdown of its non-gaming operations from March 2. Non-gaming facilities at the complex were to open gradually, depending on the evolution of the Covid-19 disease in South Korea, stated Kangwon Land Inc in Thursday’s filing.

At least two South Korean operators of foreigner-only casinos had also announced they were temporarily closing down their gaming operations, in line with the country’s effort at curbing the further spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. Grand Korea Leisure Co Ltd has paused its gaming operations until April 20; Paradise Co Ltd said on Monday it had reopened its casino in Jeju island, but it extended the shutdown of the operations of its other three gaming venues until April 20.

As of Thursday, South Korea had recorded an aggregate of 10,613 cases of Covid-19 infection and 229 deaths, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The country reported 22 new cases on Thursday, according to the latest official data.

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