Kangwon Land, the only gaming resort in South Korea permitted to offer bets to locals, will reduce the operation hours of its casino from Saturday (December 18) until at least January 2, as a Covid-19 countermeasure. The gaming venue will be operating from 10am to 10pm each day during that period.
That is according to a representative of Kangwon Land Inc, the operator of the resort (pictured), in response to a GGRAsia telephone enquiry. Currently, the casino at Kangwon Land was operating between 10am and 6am, the following day.
South Korea said on Thursday it will reinstate on Saturday stricter social distancing rules as the number of new infections and serious cases increases nationwide. The fresh measures are to be reintroduced a month-and-a-half after the authorities eased them under a ‘living with Covid-19’ policy.
The rules announced on Thursday limit gatherings to no more than four people, as long as they are fully vaccinated. The restrictions also force restaurants, cafes and bars to close by 9pm, officials said.
Kangwon Land resort is in a remote upland area in the east of the country, three hours by road from Seoul.
South Korea’s Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum said on Thursday that the government needed more time to expand the nation’s “medical capacity and vaccination” drive. “Today’s pause isn’t a U-turn or retreat from the path toward a return to normal life, but a necessary speed adjustment based on changed circumstances,” he was quoted as saying by local media.
According to Kangwon Land Inc’s representative, any easing of the measures by January 2 will depend on a redesignation of the local Covid-19 alert level.
The representative added that the casino was still allowed to receive 3,000 customers at any one time, despite the reduction in operation hours. The 3,000 maximum daily guest capacity amounts to 50 percent of the 6,000-visitor pre-pandemic level.
Kangwon Land has been asking its guests to take part in a lot-drawing exercise, to determine who got the chance to visit under the capacity limits.
The casino operator reported a net profit of KRW20.42 billion (US$17.2 million) in the third quarter of 2021, down 2.4 percent from KRW20.9 billion in the preceding quarter.
As of 12am on Thursday, South Korea had recorded 7,435 new Covid-19 cases in 24 hours, taking the confirmed tally to 551,551, including 4,591 deaths, according to data from the country’s Ministry of Health and Welfare.
